La Formula 1 in 2026, with the new technical cycle, will welcome two highly prestigious brands: Porsche e Audi. However, get into Formula 1 as an engine builder it is one thing, doing it as a team is quite another, which leads to a different type of commitment, but above all of visibility. With already 10 teams on the grid, the only possibility of accessing as a team for these brands is that of the acquisition and this is precisely the path they seem to want to take Audi. But it's not that simple.
McLaren 'not for sale'
The latest rumors about Audi they were talking about an agreement to take over the McLaren something however denied by the CEO of the team, Zak Brown, who rejected the acquisition idea by clarifying how much the team is not for sale or interested in any negotiation that contemplates the rebranding of the historical name of the McLaren Racing.
“Our shareholders are very committed to the McLaren – he specified – we already had talks with Audi, and we are not for sale. We are very attentive to our future, and we are also doing very well on the track. The shareholders have made substantial investments to give our team the resources we need to get back in front.
La McLaren, it would also seem to be growing financially, saved by investments by SME Sports Capital. “We are really healthy - Said Brown - which was not the case 18 months ago. SME Sports Capital she ran to help and invested and now the results are showing. You all know where we were just a year and a half ago and now it feels like many years have gone by."
The only opportunity we have left is to see the name associated with Audi e McLaren it is therefore that of a more technical nature, linked to the supply of Power Units, the absolute protagonists of the new cycle which will begin in 2026.
From a commercial point of view we are doing very well; the morale of the team is really good, and therefore we have no interest in selling it. In any case - he added - it falls to our team principal, Andreas Seidl, decide which power unit you want to mount, but any conversation surrounding the purchase of McLaren will not be discussed".
Hypothesis Aston Martin..or Sauber?
With the McLaren out of the game and with an investment of 500 million at stake for an acquisition, according to the latest rumors, the tracks that lead to Aston Martin, Williams e Sauber. In the hypothesis Aston Martin clues are hidden in the words of Lawrence Stroll, who he admitted to having entertained with Audi discussions on the subject, without however overreacting on the possibility of transfer.
"Audi did you contact us? Yes. And we are very happy with our cooperation with the Mercedes? Yes. The world of Formula 1 it is full of these stories"He said Lawrence, as reported by Autosprtint
But according to other rumors Audi would be more interested in acquiring Sauber. "Stroll and his investors are said to be actively considering selling the company to Audi. This operation would give them the peace of mind that they have saved the brand and handed it over to a large industry“, reads the blog of the British journalist Joe Saward, which justified everything not only because of the competitiveness with Aston Martin, but also for the past of the successful partnership between Sauber and another German brand, BMW.
Savard, further emphasizes that part of those people who were BMW in those years today they work in Audi.
“The CEO of Audi Markus Duesman was one of the engineers of the BMW in that era and last year they nominated the Australian Adam baker, another former man of the BMW, to formulate the tender strategy of theAudi. Another man involved is Mike Crack, who is now learning to be a team leader with theAston Martin”, he said Savard to close.
Source: Formula Passion
