How Formula 1’s Audi coup has been realised

Formula 1 has pulled off a major coup in encouraging Audi to join the series as an engine manufacturer from the 2026 season. It speaks to the surge in popularity F1 is enjoying, with Porsche set to follow suit. Here's how F1 snared the four rings, and what comes next for the famous German marque as it sets about tackling its new challenge

Formula 1 has watched its TV and trackside audiences explode, revenues rocket and truly cracked America off the back of its Liberty Media buyout and Netflix-led popularity boom. But since the takeover and Drive to Survive first airing on 8 March 2019, the series hasn’t charmed the automotive market anything like as emphatically. In the same period, Honda even pulled out as an engine supplier and the arrival of the Alpine and Aston Martin names were rebrands of existing outfits only.

That’s now changing courtesy of the second-biggest car conglomerate in the business: the Volkswagen Group. One of the poorer kept F1 secrets has now been confirmed, with Audi leapfrogging sister marque Porsche to reveal its grand prix commitment for 2026 and beyond.

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Author Matt Kew

Matt Kew is Autosport’s F1 Editor, a role he has held since March 2022 following stints covering Formula E, Extreme E and the British Touring Car Championship.

Matt joined Autosport in 2018 to work predominantly on the magazine, but his relentless quoting of Alan Partridge meant office colleagues soon thought he would be better-suited to increased field work.

Needless to say, Matt had the last laugh when he won the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2019.

His interest in motorsport was sparked by regular trips to watch ASCAR crash around Rockingham’s banked oval.

Matt read politics and philosophy at the University of Sheffield - receiving first-class honours for his dissertation assessing the lack of female participation in top-tier motor racing.

He covered a wide variety of national race and rally meetings for Autosport as a freelancer before joining full-time. His best efforts to argue the merits of historic racing are undone by a questionable taste in music and James Bond actors.