Audi in F1??

[Racer_kyle]

Lets face it guys, its got to happen sooner or later. I mean they dominated rallying with the quattro, they dominated BTCC with the A4, and they have dominated Sportscar racing with the R8, and probably will do so with the R10. Surely it cant be long before they make the leap onto the world's greatest motorsport stage, and try to achieve domination of F1......


Just a thought.

[Knowlesy]

They don't seem all that interested really though. I'd assume they'll try it one day, but they perhaps feel that sportscars (and their continued success in it) is a better brand builder.

[Mal]

Cant seam them being interested all the while F1 is in self destruct mode and sportscars are on the up on both sides of the Atlantic.

[kdr]

mmm...

option 1. start novice f1 team with minimum budget of 1 billion pounds with no guarantee of success in a period of fia/gpwc uncertainty.

option 2. using acquired knowledge build diesel prototype to win le mans and write themselves a blank cheque with resulting publicity.

thats a tough one.

[Andrew Gunnell]

Racer_kyle - Although it happened pre 1950 and the Formula One World Championship, Audi or Auto Union as they were called dominated Grand Prix racing in the late 1920s and 1930s alongside Mercedes-Benz.

[Racer_kyle]

Originally Posted by Andrew Gunnell

Racer_kyle - Although it happened pre 1950 and the Formula One World Championship, Audi or Auto Union as they were called dominated Grand Prix racing in the late 1920s and 1930s alongside Mercedes-Benz.

aaaahh thankyou... wasnt aware of that!

Thinking about it though,, it would be a tough move for Audi.. I mean look at Toyota, successfull in sportscars and rallying, but only now are they starting to show any signs of promise in F1.

However how long do you think theyre gonna let BMW and Mercedes be at the forefront of F1.... German rivalry and all that...

[alesi95]

This rumour has been bouncing about for over ten years now.
I wish it would either come to something or just die.

[Andrew Gunnell]

Another thing is Audi is part of VW, who also own Seat, Skoda and Bentley. So looking at the areas of motorsport they are in, WTCC with Seat, WRC with Skoda, Bentley finished a 3 year programme to win Le Mans in 2003, Sports cars with Audi and VW with the VW Cup and Paris-Dakar Rally.

The question is how much money does VW/Audi have left after all that racing? If there is enough money left how much to spend on F1? Toyota is spending around $200 million on their F1 team.

[BSchneiderFan]

I think Audi's view is that sportscar racing is simply much better value. Wolfgang Ulrich has often talked of building a long-term heritage in sportscars, and they can dominate endurance racing for a fraction of what they'd spend just to be on the F1 grid.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Mal

Cant seam them being interested all the while F1 is in self destruct mode and sportscars are on the up on both sides of the Atlantic.

While I agree Audi aren't interested, and they have a very good motor racing programme, your sportscar on the up and F1 self destructing is interesting. Frankly the problems in F1 continue to make no difference and sportscar, at the moment, is still not anything like it was in the late '80s or late '90s (or chose 1957 or other fleeting eras). American grids only have a couple more cars than an F1 grid and they have four classes. (those who know me know where my preferences lie, so I won't belittle the discussion by saying so as I think my post is correct independently of that).

Even if the respective problems and growth continue it is relative! (respective, relative!) For the last three decades a poor F1 is still ahead of a strong Sportscar (and then only one race) in terms of exposure. the discussion needs to then go down value for money. For Audi it is right, unquestionably, but if more manufacturers took that route, then they may reconsider(?).

Lets see what manufacturers are choosing: Lots of cash and no guarantee of success verses guaranteed success and less cash. In some ways it is odd, but in some ways they want the competition. Then when some of them (the same ones in some cases) get it in sportscars they pull out In F1 when they don't get sucess they buy their own team instead! Madness in some ways.

Interesting point and one that the board must consider each review.

[Dixie Flatline]

Originally Posted by alesi95

This rumour has been bouncing about for over ten years now.
I wish it would either come to something or just die.

Seconded.

Don't think Audi will be a major performer in Formula One for a while longer yet, though.

[AllonFS]

Very unlikely IMHO. Assuming they do produce a new sportscar, then they would aim to be racing it for a similar length of time as the R8 (5-6 years). Can't see them having an F1 programme running at the same time - maybe at the end of the R9/R10s life they might consider it, but an awful lot can happen in that sort of tiime. (Such as Jaguar returning to their heritage and sportscars???)

[climb]

Presence in F1 is not actually compatible with presence in other series; thus they shouldend up with all the programs they're committed in, some of them are at a rather early stage (R10 for instance). Therefore I reckon it vey unlikely

[steve_r]

Ahh, the monthly VAG F1 rumor. Personally, I don't think its going to happen any time soon.

IMO Audi already have a great winning reputation dating back from their amazing Quattro rally cars, and more recently Le Mans/sportscar racing. I'm not sure that having a few learning seasons at the back of an F1 grid would enhance their global image much.

I think them re-entering rallying would really grab many peoples attention, although VAG already have Skoda in that.

[Super Tourer]

I think sportscar racing is more in line with Audi brand values - as a sporting brand with a solid and reliable edge - therefore to win Le Mans time and time again is good value for the investment in the R8 - in terms of value for money look how much return they have squeezed out of the R8.

If and when F1 settles down under a new/modified regime they may look at it again, but I would imagine every manufacturer potentially eyeing F1 has kept a close watch on Toyota - how much it has spent and how long it has taken to get meaningfull results.

Adam makes some good points, possibly one issue outside of competing in F1 is that there is less of a challenge in many ways. You can pour money into a sportscar prgram and be almost guaranteed race wins and championships (although strangely despite Toyota throwing everything at LM at the end of the 90's- they didn't win it - an omen for them in F1 I wonder?).

Whereas, perhaps F1 is the ultimate challenge as you would have to break the technical dominance of a hand full of teams, which requires hiring key people and putting in all the resources and timeline to achieve results.

This in itself creates more problems as the time from when the board gives the go ahead to when real results come can be 4 or 5 years away, maybe more - by which time the car market may have changed and the profitability to fund F1 no longer there - hence cost cutting and the pull out. Ford being a good example of this with Jaguar.

[climb]

One more point: as a medium high level brand, AUDI's market is not enough large to justify the huge amounts of investment curently requested by F1.
Other groups target larger consumer segments and then it could make more sense.
Ferrari could seem an exception, but we all know they're a special case.

[BootsOntheSide]

Has Audi's market share agaisnt BMW and Mercedes actually suffered while those two companies have been winning in F1? I doubt it, and that's why I think ti would be a waste of moeny for them to enter, because it's so expensive for a relatively small company and takes so long to get any kind of results.

[kdr]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

Has Audi's market share agaisnt BMW and Mercedes actually suffered while those two companies have been winning in F1? I doubt it, and that's why I think ti would be a waste of moeny for them to enter, because it's so expensive for a relatively small company and takes so long to get any kind of results.

purely from what my eyes tell me - no. bmw 3s and 5s used to the car of choice, now you can't seem to move for fear of tripping over yet another a3/4 or tt. also ignoring the fact that the last few years in f1 haven't exactly been great for either bmw or mercedes, i'm not sure the audi brand image of fast and reliable would benefit from f1...where when it goes wrong its the manufacturers fault, and when it goes right its all due to the latest flavour of the month driver on the block.