Audi has made significant progress in recent months and finished the first part of the season in eighth place in the constructors’ championship with a nice haul of points in just a few races.
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After seven consecutive rounds without scoring, Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hülkenberg scored ten points between Silverstone and Budapest.
The upgrades introduced in Montreal and then at Spielberg allowed Audi to get back into the midfield fight. The power unit improvements also helped make the R26 more competitive.
A particularly high-performing chassis
Mattia Binotto even believes that the chassis performance is better than the results might suggest: “I think our car is quite fast in corners. We even think we are the fourth team in terms of chassis”, he explained.
Recent progress from Red Bull would now place Audi fifth in the chassis hierarchy. The main handicap remains the engine, which is only in its first season in Formula 1 and cannot yet compete with the grid’s benchmarks.
Audi has already used one of its two development tokens allowed this season. Introduced in Barcelona, the ADUO 1 upgrade reportedly brought about nine horsepower thanks to a new turbocharger, while improving the car’s behavior in slow corners.
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Combined with the aerodynamic upgrades from Montreal and Spielberg, this improvement allowed Audi to have one of the best midfield cars in corners. Alpine and Haas, on the other hand, lost ground with less effective developments.
The engine deficit also seems less penalizing in races. In Hungary, Audi was about three tenths per lap behind in qualifying, but the gap significantly reduced over long stints. As the sole user of this power unit, any comparison with the competition is pointless.
Audi is already thinking about 2027
However, the German brand does not plan any major new upgrade to its power unit during the second half of the season. Efforts are now focused on the 2027 specification.
The development of the R26 will continue, however, with several important chassis upgrades expected. The goal will be to get closer to Racing Bulls, currently the midfield benchmark, while resisting Aston Martin’s comeback.
In the longer term, Audi maintains a particularly ambitious goal: to be able to regularly fight for wins by 2028 or 2029.
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