Goosebumps in Neuburg: Audi’s R26 breathes for the first time ahead of 2026
Audi’s first Formula 1 car has found its voice. In a hush of engineers, headsets and held breaths, the R26’s hybrid power unit barked into life in Neuburg, marking a genuine line in the sand for the manufacturer’s works entry next season.
Drivers Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hülkenberg were in the room for the moment, along with senior staff from the brand’s German power unit division and the Swiss squad at Hinwil. The fire-up paired Audi’s first F1 power unit with the new chassis for the first time — and it ran cleanly.
“When they were revving the engine I got goosebumps everywhere. I just want to drive it,” Bortoleto said in a clip released by the team, struggling to hide a grin. “It sounds amazing.”
The plan is to waste no time turning noise into mileage. Audi will roll straight into a filming day at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on 9 January, putting up to 200km on the car to verify systems before full-blown testing later in the month. With that, the team is set to become the first to put 2026-spec machinery on track.
It’s an early victory for a project that’s been running on two tracks for some time. Neuburg has been hard at work on the power unit program, while Hinwil — now fully under Audi control after the completed takeover of Sauber — leads the chassis effort. The R26 is the first public product of those two worlds finally meshing.
Team principal Jonathan Wheatley called the successful fire-up a “critical milestone” and a dose of energy for the whole operation. “It validates the quality of the work and collaboration across all departments,” he said. “It energises the team and provides a clear focus as we prepare for the next phases of development, including the moment we first bring the car to track. This brings our first race in Melbourne into sharp focus, and we’ll build on this foundation as one united team.”
Filming days sit on the pragmatic end of the romance. Yes, there’s b-roll to gather, but the real headline is the first time you learn whether software, sensors, hydraulics, cooling, brake systems and energy deployment all play nicely outside a lab. If anything’s going to rattle, sulk, or blink red, it’s usually here — which is why teams guard these outings so closely and measure progress in steady, unfussy laps.
Audi’s driver pairing, a blend of Bortoleto’s hungry first steps at the top level and Hülkenberg’s hard-miles experience, gives the outfit range on feedback as the car evolves through its earliest stages. The 2026 regulations will reset plenty, and Audi’s timing is deliberate: fire up early, learn early.
There’s branding theatre to come as well. The team will pull the covers off the R26 livery in Berlin on 20 January, six days before pre-season running begins in Barcelona. Expect a sharper look at packaging by then and, if all goes to plan, a car that’s already had one quietly useful day in the Spanish winter light.
For now, though, it’s about the noise. That first cough and clean idle always pricks ears in a factory — the sound of a thousand spreadsheets turning into something mechanical you can feel in your chest. On this evidence, Audi’s new era isn’t whispering its arrival. It’s clearing its throat.
