Audi won’t upgrade F1 power unit again until 2027

Audi won’t add to its first Formula 1 power unit update by the end of the 2026 season, racing director Allan McNish has revealed.

Having taken over the Sauber squad this year and introduced its very first F1 engine project, Audi rarely troubled the top 10 early in the season but launched a power unit upgrade at the Barcelona Grand Prix, providing “driveability mostly” as per Nico Hulkenberg – as this had been a weakness of the R26’s.

Audi’s progress has been obvious since then, as it has scored points in the last three rounds with Gabriel Bortoleto (eight) and Hulkenberg (two), edging Williams out of eighth place in the constructors’ championship.

However, asked by Autosport when the next powertrain update would be introduced, McNish replied: “It'll be next year.” The reason is simple: staying within the budget cap.

“Everybody has got this trade-off between when you're bringing upgrades – chassis and PU – and also where you spend your money,” McNish continued. “Because you can't spend everything at one time, because then you don't have anything to fight with later. So it's got to be a managed expectation, and not just over one season, but multiple seasons as well.

“And so certainly from our point of view with the ADUO [Additional Upgrades and Opportunities for weaker powertrains], we brought something in Barcelona straight away, which was some small adaption, and that worked well, that helped us on our way. And then I would say the bigger parts are for 2027. So we will not see anything big on the power unit until then.”

Allan McNish, Racing Director of Audi F1 Team

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

When Autosport followed up with how big a step he would expect from the 2027-spec power unit, McNish chuckled: “That’s ‘27. Give us a break. We’re only halfway through ‘26, I need my cup of tea first.

“You've got where you're going, but it's also relative to the competition. And so therefore we're always benchmarking against the competition, and how quickly they move, and how quickly we can evolve.

“You could see that we've evolved in our performance this year so far, which has been definitely power-unit-related as well, making sure that we try to maximise some of the systems on that, but also definitely on the chassis with the upgrades that we spoke about there. And so I think we've definitely done that.

“We will do again in the second half of the year, but for the power unit that’s the ‘27 topic. It’s more hardware than anything, and that’s not a quick thing to change.”

Expanding on the Barcelona update’s “driveability” focus, Hulkenberg had detailed at Spa-Francorchamps: “It is about what you request on the pedal, but how the PU responds, how the torque delivery is. Does it surge, is it consistent, is it smooth? It is very fine stuff.

“We can talk about it, but you need to have experience to feel it. It happens in a blink of an eye, less than a tenth on a corner exit. But with a car on the limit, over the limit, all these things matter a lot.

Nico Hulkenberg, Audi F1 Team

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

“If you then have driveability issues on top of that, it is like trying to hit a curveball. The same on the gearbox side with shifting, shift quality.

“As you are all aware and heard of, there can be big differences in terms of shift quality, upshifts and downshifts. And they have an impact on car balance and car behaviour too. So it all goes together.”