Humble. However agency and assured.
There was by no means actually an opportunity Audi would enter Formulation 1 in 2026 and not using a correct assertion. Not as a result of it wanted fireworks, however as a result of this is among the most long-awaited and most speculated-about arrivals the collection has seen in a long time. For years Audi insisted it wasn’t involved in climbing to the head of motorsport. After which, finally, it did. You might sense that lengthy highway – from denial to inevitability – in virtually each element of the way it selected to current itself in Berlin.
You couldn’t accuse Audi of pondering small. It flew in dozens of media representatives from everywhere in the world – from China to Brazil – and, in fact, a wholesome variety of influencers too. It put them up in considered one of Berlin’s greatest resorts and made positive the world could be watching.
Audi F1 Workforce launch
Photograph by: Christopher Otto
But it additionally felt like this might have been became one thing far larger and louder, had the advertising division actually been let off the leash.
As an alternative, Audi selected Kraftwerk because the venue – an virtually excellent image of contemporary Berlin’s cultural identification. Constructed within the early Nineteen Sixties as a mixed warmth and energy plant to maintain East Berlin’s houses heat, it was remodeled a long time later right into a cultural house.
From the surface, if not for the fence separating it from Kopenicker Strasse, it may nonetheless simply be mistaken for a logistics hub or a warehouse, the sort of place the place you’d count on vehicles to line up in entrance of a stern Soviet-looking facade. Inside, it’s now a really perfect setting for techno events, artwork exhibitions – and, apparently, F1 group launches.
Audi made good use of the house, putting 4 of its most iconic racing vehicles – from an Auto Union Kind C to a Le Mans-winning prototype – within the entrance space, and organising a clear, elegant stage for the presentation of its 2026 livery. However it was not designed – maybe very intentionally – as a spectacle. There was no dance present. No overload of lasers. No deafening music. The automotive didn’t descend from the ceiling or seem by means of clouds of smoke, although Kraftwerk’s cavernous inside would simply enable for that sort of theatre.
Audi launch
Photograph by: Oleg Karpov
Virtually three a long time earlier, Audi had launched its sportscar programme in Berlin too – rolling its first prototype in entrance of the world’s media on the picket observe of the town’s velodrome, and turning that second into a really deliberate assertion.
There was nothing even remotely comparable this time round.
As an alternative, after a brief speech by Gernot Doellner from the steps resulting in the higher stage, it took nothing greater than a easy cowl drop to disclose the 2026 present automotive in its new colors. Then Mattia Binotto and Jonathan Wheatley joined the occasion host Naomi Schiff on stage for a quick Q&A. No drama. No extra. Only a calm, managed method of claiming: we’re right here now. However this was not offered as a starting, and never as some nice milestone both – simply one other step on a journey whose vacation spot has now been clearly outlined.
“Mission 2030” is now not a imprecise inside slogan. It’s now Audi’s formal declaration of intent in F1, introduced as a part of the corporate’s total technique and immortalised within the neatly ready PDF press kits handed out to the media in Berlin.
“Formulation 1 is essentially the most advanced group sport on the earth,” the doc says. “It’s the mixture of individuals and a various talent set that makes the distinction. We’re constructing a brand new organisation with a mindset based on resilience, precision, and a relentless curiosity to search out efficiency all over the place.
“Our purpose is to win championships by 2030. We’ve got a structured plan for a deliberate ascent. Our journey begins as a challenger, the place we are going to set up our processes and struggle for factors. We are going to evolve right into a competitor, consolidating our strengths to constantly compete for podiums. The subsequent section is to change into a champion, a unified, successful drive.”
Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi F1
Photograph by: Oleg Karpov
The media a part of the occasion was simply as fastidiously choreographed. Journalists – and sure, influencers too – had been allowed into Kraftwerk hours earlier than the official livery reveal. Every thing was tightly scheduled, virtually obsessively organised, with timed slots – a few of which had been three-minutes lengthy – for each conceivable media exercise.
Strolling by means of the sprawling second stage of Kraftwerk, you’d see Gabriel Bortoleto enjoying some foolish cup sport with an influencer – excellent short-form content material within the making – whereas Nico Hulkenberg was doing one thing related close by. James Key, Wheatley and Binotto had been rotating by means of the identical stations. At common intervals, they’d all find yourself at a big desk with the world’s media to ship their speaking factors – together with, inevitably, that 2030 goal.
There was additionally already a shakedown behind the group. The R26 had run in Barcelona every week and a half earlier, turning into the primary 2026 automotive to hit the observe. The operation, as confirmed by Key, had been deliberate 18 months upfront and was primarily supposed to offer Audi’s first-ever F1 energy unit a correct examine.
“I’m not anticipating our powertrain to be one of the best from the very begin,” Binotto mentioned calmly, when it was his flip to sit down down with journalists. “That may be unattainable. That may be unrealistic. However I feel we’re on our journey and we have to keep centered on ourselves.
Audi launch environment
Photograph by: Audi
“What’s our job? Our job, as we mentioned, is to change into profitable by 2030. It might be perceived as a great distance, however it’s not. It’s tomorrow or the day after. And we’re actually centered on ourselves, staying humble. We all know that we could face issues in the course of the season. We could face reliability points or failures. However what is going to rely essentially the most for me is how the group reacts. Leaving no stone unturned, studying from the issues, displaying the capability to progress.
“And if we’re able to progressing race by race, then, with all of the means we’ve received and with the dedication of Audi as a model, we could change into as sturdy because the others – if not higher.”
So much was mentioned in Berlin about confidence and ambition, but additionally about that very deliberate humility with which Audi is approaching its F1 programme – and a few persistence that feels virtually unthinkable for a model with the 4 rings.
Audi is aware of it isn’t going to win right away. But when that isn’t the eventual goal, then is that even Audi?
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