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Formula 1

Race starts at 8 pm Singapore/Malaysia time

After being unable to run in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Singapore F1 Grand Prix is on again this weekend as Round 17 of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship. Singapore has never had a permanent racing circuit and created one in 2008 for its first ever Formula 1 event. It was also the first ever night race in Formula 1 history, to be followed by Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and more recently, Jeddah. Next year, the Las Vegas GP will also be run at night.

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Since 2010, Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team – a partnership between Malaysia’s national oil corporation and the Mercedes-AMG F1 Team – has continuously demonstrated world-class performance. In the space of nearly 13 seasons so far, the team has won 8 Constructors’ world championships and 115 Grand Prix victories – an achievement unmatched in F1.

The long-term partnership will continue into the future with the renewal of the Title and Technical Partnership between the team and PETRONAS from the 2026 season onwards. PETRONAS’ continued involvement in the team and Formula 1 from 2026 onwards will see it facing the sport’s most significant challenge yet with its ambition to race towards a more sustainable future.

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The 2023 Formula 1 World Championship will have the most number of rounds since it was inaugurated in 1950. Starting on March 5 in Bahrain, the championship will consist of 24 rounds and run until November 26 when the final round is run in Abu Dhabi.

“I am delighted that we will be able to take Formula 1’s new era of exciting racing, created by the FIA’s 2022 Regulations, to a broader fan base in 2023. In framing the 2023 F1 calendar, World Motor Sports Council Members have also been mindful of the timing of the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans [which will be run for the 100th time next year],” said FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

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The starting grid for this F1 race did not follow the positions of qualifying as nine drivers had penalties that demoted them to other starting spots. While Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – who clocked the fastest time in qualifying – was able to keep his pole position, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen lost his second grid position which was taken by Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell. The Red Bull driver had to start from seventh, just ahead of Williams Racing’s Nyck de Vries who was taking the place of Alexander Albon who had appendicitis.

Leclerc got off to a great start but by the chicane, Russell had managed to position alongside the Ferrari as he had braked a bit later. However, Leclerc managed to hold his position and sped off after the near-contact.

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The Monza circuit celebrates its 100th anniversary this year and the 16th round of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship being held there this weekend will be the 72nd time it has hosted a round. When the track, also known as the ‘Temple of Speed’, opened in 1922, the first race it hosted was the second Italian Grand Prix (pre-F1).

Monza is a high-speed track; in fact, it has the highest speeds of any F1 track. Due to the long straights and large portion of lap spent in eighth gear, with the highest average cornering speed of any F1 track today. It also has the lowest downforce level of the year and requires a special rear wing, just for this event.

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As the drivers left the grid for the first of 72 laps, the home crowd filled the air with orange for their countryman – championship F1 leader Max Verstappen. Both Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc got a good start but it was the Red Bull driver who had a slight edge. Further back, Mercedes-AMG’s Lewis Hamilton also sliced through the grid and had just a tiny bit of contact with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who had been one slot ahead of him on the grid.

With Zandvoort having very short laps, the cars raced across the starting grid again within a very short time. Haas driver, Kevin Magnussen, provided some drama in the opening lap as his car went wide into the gravel and although he bounced off a barrier, he managed to remain in the race but in last position. His team mate, Mick Schumacher, was not doing well either, having slipped two positions back from eighth on the grid.

Within the first 12 minutes, 6 laps had already been completed and Verstappen was already setting the fastest time. But just one lap later, Leclerc pushed hard and did an even faster lap, gaining a bit on the Dutchman. Hamilton was less than a second behind Sainz who was dropping back from the front two.

Tyre degradation was appearing and Scuderia Alphatauri’s Pierre Gasly went into the pits for new tyres, followed by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo. They had started on softs which did not seem to be a good choice. Alpine F1’s Fernando Alonso also came in on lap 13 for tyres. Schumacher’s pit-stop was frustrating as it took a while before he could be released.

Lap 15 saw Sainz and Sergio Perez, the other Red Bull driver, pitting. It was messy as Sainz could not shoot back out straight away due to Perez coming past and the Ferrari driver was still for 11 seconds – which is a long time in the pitlane.

As Leclerc headed off to the pits, Hamilton inherited second place, 12 seconds behind Verstappen. When the Ferrari driver got back to the race, he was fourth with Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell ahead.

When Verstappen finally came in on lap 19, Hamilton took the lead, followed by Russell. Switching to mediums, the Dutchman had a very quick stop as usual, returning in third place and about 8 seconds behind Hamilton, and 5 seconds ahead of Leclerc. Up to that point, both Mercedes-AMG drivers were still on their original tyres – a one-stop strategy?

The Alfa Romeo ORLEN team must have been grateful that their cars remained in the race, Zhou Guan-Yu in 13th and Valtteri Bottas in 15th place. But Zhou picked up a 5-second penalty for exceeding the speed limit in the pit lane.

On lap 28, Verstappen closed in on Russell and speeding along the main straight with DRS open, he easily slipped past the Mercedes-AMG into second as he powered his way around on the outside. One lap later, Hamilton left the lead to Verstappen as he rushed into the pits. While changing tyres, Russell, Leclerc and Perez passed by so he rejoined in fifth, 11 seconds ahead of Sainz.

It was Russell’s turn on lap 31 which gives second place to Leclerc, who has a 7-second gap to close with Verstappen. He’s comfortably ahead of Perez who has to keep an eye out for Hamilton sneaking up on him. It was hard to say which Mercedes-AMG driver might have a chance at winning the F1 race as Russell was faster than Hamilton at times.

Halfway through the F1 race, Verstappen looked steady in the lead with an 8-second gap from Leclerc, with Perez around the same time gap from the Ferrari driver. This meant his focus could be entirely on Hamilton who was in his mirrors. Hamilton gets past on lap 37 but Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel is in the way and the Mercedes-AMG driver cannot pull away from Perez quickly enough. Perhaps too focussed on Hamilton, Perez is caught by surprise as Russell slips past him as well into fourth place.

On lap 45, there was confusion when Scuderia Alphatauri’s Yuki Tsunoda pulled to the side as he seemed to have tyre problems. He was able to make it back to the pits where his wheels were checked. He rejoined and then had problems again after 3 laps and pulled over between Turns 4 and 5. but the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was activated as the Japanese driver left his car.

This triggered a flurry of activity in the pits and on lap 49, Verstappen pit from the lead! The Mercedes-AMG drivers also did the same, but the Red Bull driver got back out and still kept his lead. Racing resumed on lap 50 as the VSC was deactivated. Hamilton was then 12 seconds behind Verstappen, with his team mate 3 seconds away. Instead of being able to keep the lead, Hamilton had been forced into working for the win again due to the VSC.

Alfa Romeo lost a car again as Bottas came to a stop on the main straight while he was in 18th place. The F1 Safety Car came out on lap 56 and Verstappen shot straight to the pits for softs. But the Mercedes-AMG duo did not do the same, so Hamilton was back in the lead with his team mate shadowing him. However, on lap 58, as the cars diverted along the pit lane because the marshals were clearing the Alfa Romeo, Russell did a stop and got soft tyres. That dropped him to third behind Verstappen.

The F1 Safety Car ended its duty after 3 laps. Mercedes-AMG had a buffer between Hamilton and Verstappen but lost it. They had a good chance of Hamilton winning but if he could not, then Russell was ready to take over. As the race started, the Dutchman pulled out and swooped past the Mercedes-AMG easily. The Dutchman regained the lead in the Dutch Grand Prix with 11 laps remaining.

Within a short while, Verstappen had already opened the gap to 2 seconds. As the cars charged through Turn 1, Russell passed Hamilton who was very frustrated at having mediums while his British team mate had softs that worked a lot better. From being in the lead, Hamilton now had to deal with a determined Leclerc who passed him on lap 66.

Verstappen had the speed to stay ahead no matter how hard Russell tried, while Hamilton struggled with his tyres to try to keep Sainz from also displacing him. How quickly his fortunes had changed.

Clocking a fastest lap, Verstappen again won in front of his home crowd which went crazy as their hero sped across the finish line. He had pretty much led from pole position on the grid and got it right again.

Last year saw the return of the Dutch Grand Prix after a 36-year gap – the longest in the Formula 1 championship. The reason it had dropped off the F1 calendar was due to financial difficulties that prevented the Zandvoort circuit from being modernized and upgraded as the sport evolved. It was only in 1995 that proper investment was made with a new owner and the circuit, which had its first race in 1948, was redesigned and redeveloped.

The last F1 race in 1985 was won by Niki Lauda when he was with McLaren, which also won the championship that year. Besides Lauda, the drivers of that era were men like Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart and Rene Arnoux, all retired (or passed away).

Formel 1 – Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Großer Preis der Niederlande 2022. Lewis Hamilton Formula One – Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, 2022 Dutch GP. Lewis Hamilton

While the 4.3-km layout of today’s circuit for Round 15 of the 2022 championship differs greatly from the one that existed in the first 50 years, some of the drivers who raced in last year’s championship round were familiar with it from their Formula 3 years.

Race starts at 3 pm in Holland/9 pm in Malaysia

Zandvoort is a challenging track with 14 corners, many of them fast and sweeping with the ‘Tarzan Corner’ hairpin at the end of the start/finish straight. Undulating, rising and falling between the sand dunes, with a rollercoaster-like vibe similar to Portimao, it has an old-school feel, which many of the drivers like. “It’s definitely a unique challenge for the drivers and puts many aspects of an F1 car to the test,” said Mercedes-AMG’s Toto Wolff.

The elevation change is almost 8 metres and being located across the road from the North Sea, strong wind can be expected, sometimes blowing sand onto the track and affecting grip (an issue normally associated with places like Bahrain).

Zandvoort doesn’t feature many long straights and a lot of the lap is spent cornering. Due to this, it’s a track with low power sensitivity and engine duty, so the Power Unit has an easier time than at other tracks, where it is worked harder.

Because of the many high-speed changes of direction, where the mass of the car can work against you, Zandvoort has the highest mass sensitivity of the year – which means, carrying more fuel will be more penalising. But it’s below average for tyre duty and wear, because most of the corner speeds and loads sit in the middle of the. Many sequences are also very flowing rather than stop/start, which puts traction demand into the tyre.

“The most challenging parts for the tyres are the banked Turns 3 and 14, which are taken at high speed and place sustained combined forces on the car: downforce as well as lateral demands. Along with the other overall demands of the circuit layout, this is why we have nominated the hardest three compounds in the range for only the fourth time in 2022, after Bahrain, Spain and Great Britain,” said Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Motorsport Director.

Overtaking is challenging at Zandvoort due to the almost constant sequence of cornering, apart from the main straight (which leads into not a particularly big braking zone) and the back straight (which isn’t very long). This means qualifying performance and pace is vital and makes it one of the most important F1 qualifying sessions of the year.

“The new F1 car-tyre package this season should make overtaking easier on a track where it was hard to pass last year. The majority of drivers stopped just once to maintain track position but this time, there could be more of a focus on the softer compounds – which might lead to more two-stoppers and drivers pushing even harder,” predicts Isola.

There are two very different tarmacs at Zandvoort, which means the tyres behave quite differently on one relative to the other. There’s some new, smoother tarmac laid in 2020, and the rest of the track features an older, more aggressive surface. This makes it tricky to rebalance the car for all corners, because the surfaces can be different from one corner to the next.

Cornering speeds and gears used by Mercedes-AMG drivers.

Drivers experience 5.2g through the long, sweeping Turn 7 at Zandvoort, one of the highest lateral g-forces of the entire season. Of the 10 braking sections, two are classified as highly demanding on the Brembo brakes, six are of medium difficulty and the remaining two are light.

The most difficult one for the braking system is on the first turn because the cars come off a 1.1-km straight with no braking on the last turn. The single-seater F1 cars hit the brakes at 317 km/h and drop to 133 km/h in just 111 metres. To achieve this, the drivers brake for 1.99 seconds and sustain 4.8g of deceleration.

Because of the very long gap from the 1985 Dutch F1 GP, the most successful driver remains one from that era and it is Jim Clark who won 4 times in the 1960s. Max Verstappen won last year at his home race, and if he repeats his winning form for the next few years, he could replace Clark.

Scuderia Ferrari has been the most successful team in the Dutch F1 GP with 10 victories between 1952 and 1983. During that period, the team had drivers like Alberto Ascari. Juan Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Niki Lauda and Jody Scheckter.

With Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – the two F1 championship frontrunners – starting near the back due to penalties for excessive changes to engines/components, a lot of ‘action’ was expected. They were not the only ones with those penalties as another 5 other drivers were also demoted from the positions they had qualified for.

Both of the Scuderia Alphatauris had issues and could not make it to the starting grid, so they had to start from the pits.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, on pole, had a good start, pulling quickly away from Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez who was more occupied with preventing Alpine’s Fernando Alonso from sneaking past. But Alonso was quick enough and got through to second, followed by Mercedes-AMG’s Lewis Hamilton. However, in the scramble to slot into second, Alonso and Hamilton had contact and both ran wide.

The incident was noted by the Stewards and while Alonso grabbed fourth, Hamilton was getting a message from his team to stop as he entered Turn 16 – the damage was severe enough that he would have to retire. Later, the Stewards would not consider penalizing either driver for the collision.

Further back, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi also had contact as the Williams driver went wide and spun into the Alfa Romeo. For Bottas, the race ended early as he got stuck in the gravel.

BHPetrol

The incidents brought out the Safety Car on lap 2. Sainz was in the lead ahead of Perez while Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell third during the time that Alonso and Hamilton were clashing. But it was the two championship leaders that had attention and Verstappen had moved up to eighth (from 15th on the grid) while Leclerc followed him through to ninth (from 16th). Leclerc took the opportunity to switch to another set of tyres while the Safety Car was out.

The F1 Safety Car left the track on lap 5 and racing resumed, thus far with two cars out. Sainz didn’t have a big gap and Perez was keeping him on the defensive. Behind them, Russell was holding on to his third place as Alonso made efforts to displace him.

By lap 7, Verstappen had passed Alonso and was looking for Russell. And within one lap, he out-accelerated the Mercedes-AMG on the straight to take third place. Leclerc, however, did not make the same sort of progress up the field and his pit-stop had dropped him back to 16th.

The tyres were degrading faster than expected and Pirelli had been predicting a 2-satop strategy for the race. Sainz came in on lap 12, which gave Perez the lead and Verstappen just a second behind. Russell seemed to have dropped back a bit but still had a reasonable gap from Alonso.

When Sainz rejoined the race with medium tyres, he slotted into sixth, behind McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo. His team mate had reached ninth now and though he had taken on fresh tyres 10 laps earlier, the degradation would bring him in again at some point.

Lap 13 saw Verstappen easily pass Perez to take the lead. Behind the two Red Bulls was Russell and then Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, followed by Sainz. Alonso had pitted and was trying his best to move back up from the 11th place he rejoined the race in.

Perez went in on lap 15 and when he rejoined, he was behind Sainz and more importantly, ahead of Leclerc. The Ferrari driver made a move to get past but Perez held his place going through a turn. A lap later, Verstappen was in the pits to get medium tyres. He rejoined in second, ahead of Perez but 4 seconds behind Sainz who had inherited the lead.

Lap 18 saw the Dutchman capture the lead as DRS propelled him past approaching Turn 5. Behind him, Sainz would be fighting to keep his place while Perez was snapping at him. Russell was too far back with a 7-second gap but there were still 26 long laps left. Leclerc too was 7 seconds behind him, and Alonso also had the same gap to the Ferrari.

At the halfway point in the race, Verstappen was in the lead with a 7-second gap to his team mate. Sainz was third and 10 seconds behind the leader while Russell was maintaining his fourth position without worrying too much about Leclerc who was fifth and 11 seconds behind.

Sainz left his position on lap 24 switches to the hard compound, while Leclerc took on mediums. Rejoining the race, Sainz was in fourth while Leclerc was behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in seventh. Alonso had also come in and took on hard tyres, dropping to 13th when he was back on the track. The drivers within the top 10 were spaced apart too far to make an effort to move up and risk an incident putting them out. But Leclerc was determined to work his way up further and slowly picked off one rival after another.

By lap 31, Leclerc was past Vettel and into fifth place, looking ahead for Russell. With 13 laps to go, the Mercedes-AMG driver was still working hard to try to get on the podium so it was taking a while for Leclerc to catch up with him.

Verstappen reported some shifting issues but his engineer told him not to worry. Having had almost certain victories snatched from him in the closing stages of previous races, he was understandably paranoid about mechanical failure. But he had a 13-second lead, which also meant that he did not have to push the car so hard. And Perez was just behind, ready to take over, if the worst happened.

The battle for that last point-paying position was still hotly-contested. Williams Racing’s Alex Albon was holding on, but Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll kept closing in and McLaren’s Lando Norris was watching from 12th to see if he could sneak past.

As 4 laps remained, Leclerc seemed to give up trying to catch up with Russell and was probably wanting to ensure that he could cross the line in fifth at least, or might try for an extra point at the end with a fastest lap. The finishing order seemed to be almost certain, barring any unexpected problems to the leading cars.

For the Alpine F1 team, things were looking good as both Alonso and Ocon (running in sixth and seventh) would collect points from the Belgian GP. It would give them a more comfortable position in the championship, especially as McLaren was unlikely to get any points this time.

As expected, Leclerc came in on lap 43 to quickly get a set of new tyres and rejoined right ahead of Alonso. He was a bit slow, and Alonso got past but the Ferrari driver managed to overtake the Alpine into Turn 5 and off he went to try to get the fastest lap before the race ended when Verstappen led his team mate across the finish line. Sainz had managed to stay ahead of Russell to be the one to stand on the podium in third place.

After the usual summer break, the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship resumes for Round 14, the 66th Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit. Of the 66 times, Spa-Francorchamps has hosted F1 races 54 times, the other circuits being Zolder and Nivelles.

This circuit has the longest lap distance on the F1 calendar, with a length of 7.004 kms. As a result, it also has the least number of laps – just 44 – for the race to total 308.052 kms. For this year, the circuit has been modified with key changes but still retaining the challenges drivers have faced before. One of the reasons for the changes has been to bring back motorcycle racing and, in some sections, Turn 9, for example, there are two versions which satisfy the requirements of both car and motorcycle racing.

Besides resurfacing certain areas, there are changes to the run-off areas, realignment of barriers and fences and changes to kerbs. Additional gravel traps have been installed on mid-corner to corner exits to discourage drivers from exceeding track limits.

“Spa has undergone some of the biggest changes we have seen since we started going there in the modern era of Formula 1. But we know something of what to expect, thanks to the 24-hour race last month, as well as some asphalt samples that we have taken,” said Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Motorsport Director.

“In addition to some new asphalt on 5 corners, there are some new gravel traps on 4 corners, which are much closer to the side of the track. Drivers will need to pay more attention to track limits, and there’s also an increased chance of sharp gravel being dragged onto the surface. The epic nature of Spa remains unchanged though, with all the traditional challenges that make the circuit so exciting still in place,” he added.

Spa-Francorchamps is one of the most demanding circuits for tyres on the F1 calendar, with its particularly high lateral loads. The famous Eau Rouge-Raidillon complex is just one of the places where tyres are subjected to multiple forces: pushed into the ground by downforce and compression, while cornering at the same time. Variable weather is always well known at Spa-Francorchamps, making an outing for the Cinturato Green intermediate or Cinturato Blue full wet tyre a distinct possibility.

According to Brembo technicians, the circuit is also demanding for brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5, it is rated 4 on the difficulty index. It is the most complete track in F1 because in just over 7 kms, it has corners and straights of all shapes and lengths. One of its distinctive features is the 3 braking sections of at least 2.5 seconds, something not shared by any other track on the calendar. ​

This year, as a result of the increase in wheel diameter from 13 to 18 inches on the new F1 racing cars, the diameter of the brake discs has also increased. The increased braking force required has also led to an increase in the size of the Brembo brake calipers made of aluminium alloy machined from billet and nickel-plated.

The dimensions of the calipers have increased on average 10% both at the front and the rear. This year, all the teams use 6-piston calipers at the rear too; the 4-piston rear calipers used by those who preferred their lighter weight have disappeared.

Despite being the longest track in the championship, the brakes are used just 7 times per lap. The brake system is used for just under 14 seconds on each lap, amounting to 13% of the total duration of the race. Although use of the brakes is reduced, when they are used, the strain on the brake system is very high.

“The long lap distance at Spa-Francorchamps brings with it a few unique challenges. For example, if a car gets damaged early in the lap, more time is lost getting back, and the weather is very changeable, so conditions can vary massively from corner to corner. And it means the lap takes longer to complete, therefore you can’t fit as many laps into practice and qualifying run plans to test different set-up configurations,” said Mercedes-AMG’s Toto Wolff.

The teams have therefore to give much attention to set-up, balancing the desire for outright pace on the straights with enough downforce to optimize lap time in the more technically demanding second sector.

“A bigger wing will gain time in the middle sector but leave you vulnerable on the straights, while a smaller wing will provide less drag for the flat-out sections but not providing the same level of grip in the twisty corners. This is a similar predicament to Baku,” Wolff explained.

In the long history of the Formula 1 Belgian GP, Michael Schumacher has taken the chequered flag the most times with 6 victories between 1992 and 2002. His last team, Scuderia Ferrari, has also been the most successful with 18 wins, followed by McLaren with 4 less.

On the starting grid this year, there will be five previous Belgian GP winners – Lewis Hamilton (4 times), Sebastian Vettel (3 times) Daniel Ricciardo (1), Charles Leclerc (1) and Max Verstappen (1).

BHPetrol

Audi has confirmed that it will race in the Formula 1 World Championship from the 2026 season, with Audi Sport being responsible for the activity. As a consequence, the high-performance division is discontinuing its LMDh project for endurance racing but will continue with the RS-Q e-tron project for the Dakar Rally. It will announce the team partner by the end of this year.

Audi recognizes Formula 1’s high popularity in its key markets as well as with young target groups. It has particular interest in the sport because it is seen as ‘a spectacular platform for the most demanding electrified racing cars in the world ‘and the brand will be able to show its ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ in this highly competitive environment.

Formula 1 is watched globally and one of the sporting events with the highest reach in the world. In 2021, more than 1.5 billion TV viewers watched the races. On social media, Formula 1 is now experiencing the highest growth rates among the world’s most popular sports.

“Motorsport is an integral part of Audi’s DNA,” said Markus Duesmann, Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi AG. “Formula 1 is both a global stage for our brand and a highly challenging development laboratory. The combination of high performance and competition is always a driver of innovation and technology transfer in our industry. With the new rules, now is the right time for us to get involved. After all, Formula 1 and Audi both pursue clear sustainability goals.”

The key to getting involved is the world’s most popular racing series is the clear plan to become more sustainable and cost-efficient. The new technical rules, which will apply from 2026, focus on greater electrification and advanced sustainable fuel, areas which Audi has been active in developing.

In addition to the existing cap on costs for teams, a cost cap for power unit manufacturers will be introduced in 2023. Formula 1 has also set itself the ambitious goal of being a carbon-neutral racing series by 2030.

“In view of these major technological leaps that the series is making towards sustainability in 2026, we can speak of a new Formula 1. Formula 1 is transforming, and Audi wants to actively support this journey. A close link between our Formula 1 project and AUDI AG’s Technical Development department will enable synergies,” said Oliver Hoffmann, Member of the Board for Technical Development.

For 7 years (until 2021), Audi Sport was involved in the Formula E series with the ABT Schaeffler team. The team was the most successful in the all-electric single-seater series with 14 victories out of 84 races.

From 2026, the electric power output for the power units, consisting of an electric motor, battery, control electronics, and a combustion engine, will increase sharply compared to today’s Formula 1 drive systems. The electric motor will then be nearly as powerful as the combustion engine, which has an output of about 544 bhp. The highly efficient 1.6-litre turbocharged engines run on advanced sustainable fuel – also a prerequisite for Audi’s entry into the series.

Audi Sport to develop power unit

The hybrid power unit will be built at Audi Sport’s Competence Centre Motorsport in Neuburg an der Donau, not far from Audi’s headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany. “For the development and manufacture of the Formula 1 powertrain, we will build on the valuable expertise of our motorsport employees, continue to invest in our motorsports center, and also recruit highly specialized professionals,” said Audi Sport Managing Director Julius Seebacht.

The facility already has test benches for F1 engine testing as well as for electric motor and battery testing. Additional necessary preparations are currently being made in terms of personnel, buildings, and technical infrastructure, with everything essential to be in place by the end of the year. A separate company was recently established for the power unit project as a wholly owned subsidiary of Audi Sport.

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