Mattia Binotto provides concerning update over Audi F1 programme

Audi F1 project head Mattia Binotto has claimed that the team "won't have the best power unit" when it finally joins the grid in 2026.

Audi's arrival into F1 was announced as far back as the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix, with the Ingolstadt concern purchasing the Sauber facility at Hinwil instead as a starting point. 

The team was convinced to join F1 afrer the power unit regulations were tweaked to provide a geeat emphasis on electrical energy, with 50% of power set to be provided from the batteries next season, although there are discussions underway to reduce this number to avoid cars running out of power on long straights. 

Binotto, who is the CEO and COO of Sauber Motorsport, previously served as head of engines at Ferrari during the Michael Schumacher heyday, but the Italian insists Audi will not immediately come in with the best power unit. 

"Making power units, I know this well because I was an engine engineer, is much more complex and complicated than one might imagine watching races as a spectator," he told Autosport.

“Now, however, we are entering something extremely advanced that has never been done.  

“Therefore, we will find a higher level of difficulty, even though the starting point is always an engine. We will have to change the culture of the engine, and it will not be easy.

“We're focused on ourselves, we know that 2026 will not be the year in which we'll be at the top. 

"We won't have the best power unit, but the path that has been taken is the right one, I'm confident.

 “In 2014, when a more important hybrid was introduced on the power unit, it was an engine championship at the beginning, because Mercedes had made the difference. 

It's a situation that could happen again, and those who have to recover will try to do so.”