The pre-war German domination of Formula One could soon be reborn, with Audi rumoured to be readying itself for a 2016 return to Grand Prix racing. Insiders at Audi and its parent, the Volkswagen Group, have revealed that Audi is set to abandon both Germany’s touring car championship (the DTM) and the iconic Le Mans 24 Hour race in favour of the world’s top open-wheel formula.
Insiders say it will combine its WEC and DTM budgets, plus a Red Bull sponsorship package to try to make its mark again on Grand Prix racing, an arena it hasn’t entered since the advent of the modern Formula One championship in 1950. Multiple sources have also confirmed that Audi will bow to internal Volkswagen Group pressure and leave the Le Mans and World Endurance Championship to its sister brand, Porsche.
It’s understood that Audi was close to entering F1 in 2013, and was the driving force behind the sport’s aborted plan to use four-cylinder turbocharged engines. At Audi’s urging, the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council proposed, in late in 2010, to turn F1 into a four-cylinder turbo formula. Audi backflipped on joining the sport, though, and the F1 Commission changed the engine formula to turbocharged V6. Insiders insist Audi and the Volkswagen Group have now been working on a 1.6-litre V6 turbo Formula One engine since early this year.
While it will contain the engine and electric hybrid development in-house, Audi is said to prefer buying an existing Formula One operation, rather than building up an F1 operation from scratch. Either Red Bull Racing or its Italian-based development team, Toro Rosso, are understood to be the prime targets, citing Audi’s (and Volkswagen Group chairman, Ferdinand Piech’s) historic links to Austria and its close relationship with Red Bull boss, Dietrich Mateschitz. Red Bull has long been the major sponsor of Audi’s leading team in the DTM.
Giving fuel to the Formula One leak is Audi’s hiring this month of former Ferrari Formula One team principal Stefano Domenicali. The Italian Domenicali has no experience of Le Mans-style sports cars, has no experience of touring car racing and does not even speak German. The sources are insistent that Formula One is only possible reason why Audi, which is the successor of the legendary pre-war Auto Union brand and carries its four-ringed badge, would have just hired the Italian, even under the temporary pretense of a non-racing role.
In terms of drivers Fernando Alonso, the double World Champion who is leaving Ferrari this year, is a potential target, Should he not sign with McLaren-Honda for 2015, may be forced to take a sabbatical year in 2015. Alonso has a close relationship with Domenicali, having driven for him at Ferrari for several years, and could return to his team leadership via Audi in 2016.
A successful return to the top level of motorsport by Audi could spark a head-to-head rivalry with Mercedes-Benz that has lain dormant since the beginning of WWII, with the final years before the war seeing the two state-sponsored car companies dominate racing and land-speed record runs across Europe.
Audi’s departure from Le Mans will end an extraordinary period of dominance at La Sarthe. It has won the round-the-clock classic 13 times since 2000 and was beginning to threaten Porsche’s record of 16 wins. It has been genuinely beaten just once since 2000 (by Peugeot in 2009) and became both the first marque to win Le Mans with a diesel-engined car and the first to win with a hybrid.
