Mattia Binotto recognized that today, one of Audi’s main deficit points in Formula 1 is the engine. However, the executive already expected this, especially since it is a power unit produced by the German automaker itself.
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The team is making its big debut in the 2026 season, precisely in a year of regulation change. Taking over Sauber’s operation, the engine is something they started developing from scratch, without becoming a customer team of any of the grid’s suppliers – Cadillac, for example, partnered with Ferrari.
Thinking about the project in a general way, the Audi boss then pointed out that the chassis is a strong point, while the engine is still one of the weak points, nothing that actually surprises them at this start of F1.
“We know that if we analyze the overall performance and the difference to the best, the biggest performance gain is in the engine itself. Therefore, most of our performance difference is in the engine, which is not a surprise,” he stated.
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“We already expected this. We know how difficult it is to build a completely new engine, so it’s not something that surprised us. It’s not something that disappointed us. No, it’s a fact. We knew this would be the biggest challenge. We knew that’s where we had the greatest potential for performance gain, because I believe the difference was significant, especially in the power unit, but we have plans to develop it,” he continued.
“It’s part of our journey. We set an overall goal for 2030, not by chance, because we knew how long it would take. We are focused on where we are and what is needed,” he concluded.
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