The 2026 season might be 12 months away, but Formula 1 teams are now permitted to start work on their cars with many of them coming up with the first concepts of what they will look like.
The 2026 F1 ruleset is the most radical the championship has ever seen, with the cars set to adopt active aerodynamics and brand-new power units.
F1 chiefs have said that the new power units will produce the same 1,000 horsepower as the current engines, however, they will be much more simplified to cut down on costs. Part of this was to attract new manufacturers to the sport, as the engines are much cheaper to produce than the current.
It presents a great opportunity for new manufacturers and teams who are currently in the midfield to come out and produce a car capable of finishing on the podium or winning races, thereby disrupting the current two-tier formula made up of the big four teams and the other six.
One of those hoping to disrupt the current order is German car-maker Audi, who will be taking over Sauber in 2026 and turning it into a works outfit. Team principal Mattia Binotto has outlined the timeline for when he expects them to be successful when speaking to AMuS.
Mattia Binotto claims Audi will be fighting for titles in 2030
It will be the first time that the German car-maker takes on F1 after years of success at Le Mans, with Audi recently selling a stake in their entry to the Qatar sovereign wealth fund, QIA, which will give them a significant financial boost.
Binotto has outlined his targets for the team after years spent being uncompetitive under the Sauber umbrellla.
“We are at the beginning of the journey to transform Sauber into the Audi Formula 1 team and ultimately into a top team. Our goal is to fight for the world championship in 2030. We have five seasons ahead of us until then. Of these five years, the first three will be used to build the team and the next two to consolidate and fine-tune so that we can achieve our goals,” said Binotto.
“We are now at the beginning of the first three years. You cannot achieve this transformation in one season or a few months. Where are we? The team is not yet where we want to be. Neither in terms of manpower nor tools. But we see the necessary growth.
Mattia Binotto explains why ‘success doesn’t happen overnight’ in F1
Binotto was previously the Ferrari team principal before being ousted at the end of a disappointing 2022 season, in which they lost out on the title to Red Bull.
The Italian engineer was responsible for turning around their power unit programme at a time they were uncompetitive, and was installed as the head by the late Sergio Marchionne.
He knows how to turn around the fortunes of a team and has explained why he thinks it will be a while before Audi can reach the same potential as teams like Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull.
“It’s five years, but it’s still a very ambitious goal. You have to make the right decisions along the way. It’s a lot of work. It’s not just about building up the team and the infrastructure. You also have to work on the culture within the team. We still have a lot to do. So we have to be very good to achieve it,” said Binotto.
“These five years are based on past experience. There are examples where it took longer. Most of the time is spent growing the team into a unit in which everyone is able to work at the limit all the time. It’s a question of mentality. It doesn’t happen overnight. You can buy the most modern simulator in the world, but that’s not enough. You need people who can interpret the results correctly and pass them on to the engineers. You need a driver who can read what he feels in the simulator correctly. It’s always the people who make the difference.”
Teams such as McLaren have shown just how crucial it is to invest in resources, likewise Aston Martin whose billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll has invested a lot of money into a new factory and simulator.
