F1 News
Binotto foresees a tough task for Audi: 'That will be key'
The 2026 season will be interesting for several reasons. New technical regulations will be introduced and nobody can guess who has interpreted them best. Moreover, two new engine suppliers appear on the scene: Red Bull Powertrains and Audi. Are they going to do what has not happened before, which is to be successful from the very first moment?
Take Honda in the recent past as an example. When the Japanese team returned to the sport at McLaren. The engine was unreliable and slow, which eventually led McLaren to end the partnership early. Honda only became successful when they joined forces with Red Bull. They will completely part ways in 2025. Red Bull Racing will then race - with support from Ford - with engines designed in-house.
Binotto foresees a tough task for Audi
In the same year, Audi makes their entrance into Formula 1, also with a self-developed power unit. Mattia Binotto, recently appointed the COO of the Audi project, says that building your own engine is by no means a guarantee of short-term success. "I can’t say anything about Red Bull. I can only focus on ourselves," said the Italian, who previously worked for Ferrari.
"It's a huge task, but I think for Audi it's one of the most important ones because being branded by our own power unit, that's a key element of the project. It's a key element of our objectives, being not only a chassis winning a championship in Formula One, but being a full manufacturer, chassis and power unit manufacturer."
Binotto has engine experience
A huge investment has been made by Audi, but it remains to be seen how quickly the manufacturer will have everything in place to be a factor of importance in F1. "I've got some experience on the power unit. I know how difficult it is to set up a full organisation, it's not about only design and development. It's all the process towards reliability, race track management. There is much experience that still needs to be learned."
"I think we've got the good people. I think there is all we need to do well and we have the full support. It will be down to us to earn the trust they [at the top of Audi] are giving us. But as I said, it's a very big task, certainly the biggest," Binotto said.
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton
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