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Audi have become the first team to run a car built under the 2026 F1 regulations on a track, after holding a filming day at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this Friday.
The German brand will debut in F1 in 2026 after taking over the Swiss outfit formerly known as Sauber ahead of the new season. Audi initially bought a minority share in Sauber in 2023, but they later agreed in 2024 to secure complete control of the outfit from the 2026 season.
Drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto will lead Audi’s F1 debut after joining Sauber on multi-year factory Audi contracts in 2025. Hulkenberg led Sauber to ninth in the 2025 F1 constructors’ standings with 70 of their points, while Bortoleto scored 19 in his rookie term.
Audi are fully committed to turning Sauber into a successful team, and the automotive giant are not entering F1 with half measures. Audi have developed a works engine for the 2026 F1 regulations unlike Cadillac, who will also debut in 2026 yet will buy power units from Ferrari.
What engine rule change do you want to see F1 make?
F1 fans are disappointed after hearing Audi’s 2026 engine on a track for the first time
Audi have got a jump on their new rivals, as well, by putting their 2026 car on a live track for the first time this Friday. Audi held a filming day with their 2026 F1 car in Barcelona to shake their debut package down ahead of the first official pre-season test there on January 26-30.
READ MORE: Everything to know about the 2026 F1 engine, chassis and aero regulations
But many F1 fans were left feeling rather disappointed after hearing the sound of Audi’s first Formula 1 engine tour around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Journalist Roberto Cecere shared some footage from the filming day on X, which then circulated around social media.
One F1 fan reacted to the footage from Audi’s filming day by comparing the sound of their power unit built for the 2026 regulations to the previous ruleset. They noted on Instagram: “So, basically almost the same sound? Great. More years of the same boring engines.”
F1 has removed the MGU-H as part of the 2026 regulations, along with increasing the share of electrical power from a 20/80 split in favour of the internal combustion engine to 50/50. But another F1 fan also declared upon hearing Audi’s first F1 engine that it “sounds awful”.
One F1 fan also claimed Audi’s 2026 engine, “Sounds like a duck being choked”, and begged Formula 1 to bring back “real engines”. One fan noted that Audi’s 2026 power unit “sounds quite similar to the previous gen engines,” and one said: “I can’t really tell any difference?”
Very few F1 fans liked the noise of Audi’s 2026 engine after it broke cover in Barcelona this Friday. One fan at least saw some potential reason to be optimistic for the new power unit regulations era as they said: “Not great sounding, but definitely sounds a bit more throaty.”
Audi will be one of the five engine providers in the 2026 F1 season
Friday’s filming day allowed Audi up to 200km of live on-track running with their car for the 2026 season ahead of the behind-closed-doors pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya later in January. F1 will hold public tests in Bahrain on February 11-13 and 18-20.
READ MORE: Everything to know about the 2026 F1 season from the drivers to calendar
The countdown is on — which 2026 challenger are you most excited to see? 👀
The filming day was the first chance for Audi to see how their 2026 engine fared outside of a test bed in their factory in Neuburg. Audi’s F1 operation is split across three sites, with their engine factory in Germany, the race team in Switzerland and a technology centre in England.
Audi have taken over the Sauber factory in Hinwil, Switzerland to build their F1 car, but also chose to create their power unit plant in Germany to start developing a factory engine back in 2022. Audi also have a technology centre in Bicester to attract engineers from rival teams.
Audi will be one of the five power unit providers during the 2026 F1 season after designing a works engine for their debut. Red Bull Racing will also use their first in-house engine in 2026 after creating Red Bull Powertrains as Honda has now left the team and joined Aston Martin.
Red Bull Powertrains and Audi join Honda, Ferrari and Mercedes in building F1 engines. But Audi fear Mercedes have found a loophole in F1’s 2026 engine regulations that will let them increase the rate of combustion in the ICE from the permitted 16:1 to 18:1 during operation.
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