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Michael Taylor25 Oct 2014
NEWS

Audi for Formula One?

German brand tipped to dump DTM and leave Le Mans to Porsche to focus on F1 for the first time in the modern era

The pre-war German domination of Formula One could soon be reborn, with technological powerhouse Audi rumoured to be readying itself for a 2016 return to Grand Prix racing.

Insiders at Audi and its parent, the Volkswagen Group, have indicated that Audi is set to abandon both Germany’s touring car championship (the DTM) and the iconic Le Mans 24 Hour race in favour of the world’s top open-wheel formula.

Multiple sources have confirmed the premium brand will bow to internal Volkswagen Group pressure and cede Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship at the end of next year to sister brand, Porsche.

Audi is also said to be withdrawing from the three-make DTM at the end of 2015, though it will continue its production-based racing program for races like the Nurburgring 24 Hour and Bathurst 12 Hour, because the racing R8 and TT models are profitable for Audi.

Insiders say Audi will combine its WEC and DTM budgets with a Red Bull sponsorship package to try to make its mark again on F1 GP racing, an arena in which it hasn't been represented since the advent of the modern Formula One championship in 1950.

Audi came perilously close to entering F1 in 2013 and was the driving force behind the sport’s aborted plan to use four-cylinder turbocharged engines. At Audi’s urging, the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council proposed, in late in 2010, to turn F1 into a four-cylinder turbo formula. Audi backflipped on joining the sport, though, and the F1 Commission changed the engine formula to turbocharged V6.

Though it did not join the sport, insiders insist Audi and the Volkswagen Group have been working on a 1.6-litre V6 turbo F1 engine since early this year.

While it will contain engine and electric hybrid development in-house, Audi is said to prefer buying an existing Formula One operation outright to combine with its own in-house development skills, rather than building up an F1 operation from scratch.

Sources suggest either Red Bull Racing or its Italian-based development team, Toro Rosso, are the prime targets, citing Audi’s (and Volkswagen Group chairman, Ferdinand Piech’s) historic links to Austria and its close relationship with Red Bull boss, Dietrich Mateschitz. Red Bull has long been the major sponsor of Audi’s leading team in the DTM.

Adding fuel to the Formula One leak is Audi’s hiring this month of former Ferrari Formula One team principal Stefano Domenicali, an Italian who has no experience with Le Mans-style sports cars or touring car racing and does not even speak German.

The sources say that Formula One is the only reason Audi, which is the successor of the legendary pre-war Auto Union brand and carries its four-ringed badge, has hired the Italian, under the temporary pretense of a non-racing role.

Provided the powertrain is immediately competitive, buying Red Bull Racing -- or a significant stake in it -- would provide Audi with a short cut to the front of the grid. Red Bull has won the last four constructors’ championships and, helped Ferrari-bound Sebastian Vettel to the last four driver’s championships.

Significantly, Red Bull Racing’s contract to use Renault engines expires at the end of the 2015 season. It is also no stranger to changing engines, having used Ford, Ferrari and Renault engines since 2005.

There is a significant potential wrinkle, though, with the Milton Keynes-based Red Bull Racing technically known as Infiniti Red Bull Racing via a sponsorship deal with the Japanese premium car-maker. It is no stranger to manufacturer ownership, having been owned by Ford in late 1999 and then competing as Jaguar Racing until 2005.

While its Toro Rosso sister team’s only race win came with Ferrari power and Sebastien Vettel skill in 2008 at Monza, it has also provided the stepping stone for rising star Daniel Ricciardo and has had significant recent investment in infrastructure and personnel.

Seen as a tough proving ground for Red Bull driver development talent, it retains its drivers on one-year contracts, which could deliver Audi an operational F1 team free of contractual commitments and the freedom to hire star drivers.

That threat alone could also raise the bargaining power of Fernando Alonso, the double world champion Catalan who is exiting Ferrari this year and, should he not sign with McLaren-Honda, may be forced to take a sabbatical year in 2015.

Alonso has a close relationship with Domenicali, having driven for him at Ferrari for several years, and could return to his team leadership via Audi in 2016.

Toro Rosso and Red Bull aren’t the only options for Audi, though, with the Bavarian car-maker also investigating the struggling Swiss-based operation, Sauber.

If those discussions lead to a takeover, it could create some sort of record with owner, Peter Sauber, collecting the full set of German premium brands as investors. He convinced Mercedes-Benz to pay for his highly rated wind tunnel in the early 1990s and then convinced BMW to pay for his current Formula One facilities a decade later.

Sauber, though, is already attracting attention from a Saudi Arabian prince and a consortium led by an Indian businessman.

Sauber, which uses Ferrari powertrains and regularly teams with the Prancing Horse as a voting block on F1 business, has also been linked with a takeover from Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll. Stroll made his billions in clothing and owns the Mont Treblant racing facility in Quebec.

His son, Lance, pipped Lewis Hamilton to become the youngest contracted junior development driver in history when Ferrari signed him at just 11 years old in 2010. He is still a member of Ferrari’s development squad and races in Italian Formula 4.

A successful return to the top level of motorsport by Audi could spark a head-to-head rivalry with Mercedes-Benz that has lain dormant since the beginning of WWII, with the final years before the war seeing the two state-sponsored car companies dominate racing and land-speed record runs across Europe.

Audi’s departure from Le Mans will end an extraordinary period of dominance at La Sarthe. It has won the round-the-clock classic 13 times since 2000 and was beginning to threaten Porsche’s record of 16 wins. It has been genuinely beaten just once since 2000 (by Peugeot in 2009) and became both the first marque to win Le Mans with a diesel-engined car and the first to win with a hybrid.

Largely thanks to Audi, Dane Tom Kristensen has assumed legend status at the track, winning nine times and standing on the podium 14 times, while Audi’s R15+ TDI holds the record, set in 2010, for the most kilometres driven in the race at 5410.7km.

To further highlight Audi’s domination of the circuit, it also “won” in 2003 -- the year it withdrew from the race to allow the Bentley Speed 8 (a rebodied R8) to win in support of the rebirth of the Continental GT road car.

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Written byMichael Taylor
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