As of 8pm tonight, Audi have taken the next step into F1 after revealing a concept livery for the 2026 season.

And I don’t know what to think. One the one hand, it does use their historic brand colours well, there’s clear representation of the red, silver and black that we’ve seen on cars such as the R8R for example. On the other hand, it’s hardly fair to call it a concept livery. Because it’s not really a livery, it instead gives off similar vibes to Sauber’s own 2025 scheme. It’s three colours all awkwardly slapped onto a 3D rendered chassis, and they seem to have called it a day there and then. I mean, the image we’ve all seen since their entry announcement in 2022 is a million miles better. And that was itself a concept livery.

It’s entirely understandable if they’re just holding their cards close to their chest, perhaps I’m going to eat my words here and they’ll produce something Picasso would be jealous of. What I don’t really understand is the thought process. Why bother to create hype around an announcement typically used to show off a team’s actual livery for the new season and then present the world with 30 seconds of smash cuts and awkward angles and a nice bit of copy to go alongside it. It feels entirely pointless because the hype it attempted to garner failed to show up. Mainly because it’s largely already there.

Hype isn’t really what the 19-time Le Mans winning brand needs, they’ve enough to see them through the winter. This is a brand who spent the better part of 17 years intricately intertwining their motor racing legacy to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And now, when they their first steps into Formulae Racing at Barcelona for pre-season testing next year, they will have the world’s media swarming their garage.

Despite this, it’s not actually the first time in their overall history they have competed in Grand Prix racing.

During the motorsport boom of the 1930’s, Germany saw fit to use motorsport to boost their regime’s reputation and establish dominance across Europe in a far less violent manner. They eventually realised having two German brands competing would create the competition necessary to push Germany to motor racing success. So it was that Mercedes were chosen to face off against an amalgamation of four struggling brands. Now known as Auto Union, they competed against Mercedes primarily in the AIACR’s European Championship throughout the 1930’s until war broke out. Auto Union eventually became the Audi we know today.

Heading into 2026 with a driver lineup of Nico Hulkenberg and an ever improving Gabriel Bortoletto, the success of what will be known officially as the Revolut Audi F1 Team will largely depend on the competitiveness of its factory-built powertrain. With the 2026 regulations set to have seismic ripples across the grid, getting that right will be absolutely crucial, though I’d argue they have the personnel to back it up. Meme on Mattia Binotto all you want but his record with Sauber this year speaks for itself. A podium for Nico Hulkenberg and five points finishes for Bortoletto in the last 10 races are a galaxy away from the team’s fortunes last year.

In 2024 it took until Qatar, the penultimate round of the season, for the team to score its only four points all year. It was a team with a car so bad not even the experienced, cool head of Valterri Bottas could drive the Sauber C44 to a top ten finish. And that’s not even mentioning the laughably slow pit stops they experienced in the early rounds. The last 10 months have seen the Sauber’s metaphorical ship unsinking itself just before the hull hits the seabed and the megalodon arrives, and it’s largely in part thanks to the improved driver lineup, Binotto’s arrival and the poaching of Jonathan Wheatley from Red Bull.

The next question of course writes itself: If a team can find itself gain this much momentum in just 10 months, what can they do with Audi’s money, minds and motor-racing pedigree?

Barcelona’s pre season test has suddenly become the hottest item on motorsport’s 2026 starter menu.

thumbnail credit Strichpunkt / KMS Team, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons