12/03/2025
FEATURE BY MAX NOBLE
Following on from my Cadillac musings, I offer a consideration of Audi, soon to join the stables already on the F1 grid.
The glorious UK-developed game Time Splitters had a level in it that was an attack of the lawyers. Wave after wave of guys in suits crash down on your position until you are eventually overwhelmed. The tag line for this level is out-gunned, but never out-punned. The game developer was subsequently purchased by a US developer who promptly buried the time splitters concept for all time. Sad. Remind you of any other American buy-out?
Thus, early in season 2026 I can imagine Gene Haas hitchin' up his britches, tipping back his hat and walking quietly into the Audi ranch and proclaiming "Audi (howdy) do Partner?" To which in their best Scarlett drawl they might answer, "Mighty fine! Mighty fine!", Gene then chuckles, tips his hat, and walks off. He knows how hard F1 is.
Haas have worked with Ferrari clockwork bits and an American base for some years. They know the pain of trying to succeed in F1, and the complexities of split development teams. Oliver Bearman was enthusing like a guy on a first date with the girl of his dreams about how amazing season 2024 was for Haas and how awesome attaining seventh in the team championship was. Yup, I'm sure Gene has done all this suffering in order to finish seventh.
Audi. Serial Le Mans winners. Sports car winners. Maker of iconic cars. The original Quattro. The first generation A4. The TT. The R8. Part of the sprawling VW empire. An empire which currently includes... VW, Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, Seat, Skoda, Cupra, Bentley, VW commercial vehicles and Ducati. It's one of the planet's largest private employers with around 685,000 staff. I'd hate to buy the first round of drinks for that lot!
Mercedes run their F1 team at arm's length and it employs around 2,050 people. That's only 0.3% of the folk within the VW group. Toyota famously spent big dollars in F1 to achieve next to nothing. Are Audi going to "Do a Brawn", "Do a Haas", or "Do a Toyota"?
Brawn was simply unique, a brilliant man, with a spider-sense tingle that they had done a good job of the chassis and might just sneak a win... Which they promptly turned into the most romantic championship win of the modern era. No. Audi are not going to pull off a second fairy tale ending this century.
The more probable tale for Audi is either to mimic that of Haas or Toyota. Haas currently employs around 320 staff, split between the US, the UK and Italy. Clearly far smaller than Mercedes. They battle in the lower-mid-field with occasional point scoring success. 2024 saw them crawl away with 58 points, 12 more than RB Honda RBPT in eighth, and an annoying seven points behind Alpine in sixth on 65 points. Compared to McLaren on 666, Ferrari on 652 (noting Haas use the Ferrari engine...) and Red Bull on 589 this is a nothing score.
Kick Sauber Ferrari (note that same engine use again...) finished dead last on four points. But, as I've previously discussed, they might have been gaming the system to ensure maximal wind tunnel, simulator and CFD time throughout 2025. Also having a team name whereby people can roam the paddock shouting out, "Hey! Mate! Kick Sauber!" Strikes me as dumb. Regardless. Haas only scored 8.7% of McLaren's total, and Sauber only scored 0.6%. Those are not good numbers.
Can Audi match those Haas numbers? Well the great news is when you're 99.4% off the lead you've got huge room for improvement! The best figures I can discover state that Sauber F1 (I simply cannot keep writing "Kick" in front of such a great racing name) employ 381 staff. So around the size of Haas. Which would suggest they can perform around the level of Haas. Unless of course...
...They have all the corporate overhead of Toyota. One of the finest road car manufacturers in history. A winner in every single category within which it has raced except Formula One. At the time they had the biggest budget in F1. For some reason they based the team in Cologne Germany. 140 races - with 139 starts due to that American GP - 13 podiums, zero wins and 278.5 points across seasons 2002 to 2009. Seven painful years for no return on investment.
Current Sauber is the size of Haas, while corporate Audi is much like Toyota. Now, Sauber (Audi) have just announced a new UK base, so we have the company headquartered in Germany, the current Sauber F1 HQ in Hinwil Switzerland and a yet to be built facility "Somewhere in the UK Motorsport valley". What could possibly go wrong with that approach?
Swiss-German, German-German and UK-English, all mixing it in video calls across a couple of time zones. The perfect recipe for global sporting domination! The optimists among our dear readers will see the agility of Haas coupled with the corporate dollars of Audi. While those of us of a more resigned bent will see the inability of Haas to get anything great done coupled with the corporate inability to move and make decisions of Audi.
Which will win out? Well. Let's follow the money. Audi have joined this three ringed circus which is current F1 to make money, raise brand awareness, and have a jolly party to take company investors, serious partners, and serious potential customers to 24 times a year. Will this work while finishing dead last? No. Does it require one to win? Possibly not. Can drifting around in the midfield for a moderate amount of dollars get the job done? Possibly.
Your humble scribe expects Audi to out-perform Haas, but that's about it. Podiums within three years? Five? Ten...? With Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto as the 2025 drivers one would say "A safe pair of hands for development and not crashing each race weekend". Coupled with, "He's not fancy but he's cheap". Should Gabriel be solidly beaten by Hulk do not expect him to be around F1 too long. Conversely, should he bury Hulk, he too would disappear in a puff of white smoke, while Gabriel might move to a 'more winning' team. Would you hire either if you were chasing the Constructors' Championship? No, me neither.
Reporting into a corporate board with these key players, and a work force the fraction the size of Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren or Ferrari. I'd not be expecting too much from Audi in 2026, or indeed ever if they maintain this approach.
Audi Do Partner? Like Cadillac we'll take the profit and run thanks! Podiums are a bonus and might delay our exit a year or two. Toyota managed eight years. Will Audi make ten?
Max Noble
Learn more about Max and check out his previous features, here