The subsequent 12 months might be pivotal for the Sauber workforce, with the outfit bracing itself for the arrival of Method 1’s sweeping new laws and making ready to turn into Audi’s manufacturing unit workforce. Audi will develop the engine, which F1 lead Mattia Binotto warns gained’t be “the most effective” on the grid.
For 2026, Method 1 will roll out new laws to make its automobiles extra nimble to brighten up races. New engine guidelines will enhance the usage of electrical vitality in a grand prix to assist the sequence turn into extra sustainable.
Alongside the brand new engine guidelines, F1 may even welcome new engine producers, with Audi and Ford – by means of a partnership with Pink Bull – set to hitch from 2026 and Cadillac following from 2029.
“Making energy items – I do know this effectively as a result of I used to be an engine engineer – is way more complicated and complex than one may think watching races as a spectator,” stated Binotto, who’s the top of Audi’s F1 undertaking, in an unique interview with Motorsport.com.
Binotto beforehand labored at Ferrari because it navigated the sequence’ final main engine shakeup, which got here in 2014 with the introduction of the current-generation V6 hybrid energy items.
“Now, nevertheless, we’re coming into one thing extraordinarily superior that has by no means been carried out. Due to this fact, we’ll discover a increased stage of problem, regardless that the place to begin is all the time an engine. We should change the tradition of the engine and it’ll not be straightforward.”
The brand new guidelines require a 50-50 break up in energy produced by the interior combustion unit and {the electrical} parts. The complicated MGU-H, which harvests thermal vitality from the combustion engine, is being eliminated, and the motors will all be required to run on 100% sustainable fuels.
These sweeping modifications are offering a problem for engine producers, and Binotto admits that Audi is not any completely different.
“We’re centered on ourselves,” he stated. “We all know that 2026 is not going to be the 12 months during which we’ll be on the prime. We cannot have the most effective energy unit, however the path that has been taken is the correct one, I am assured.”
Mattia Binotto, Sauber
Photograph by: Peter Fox / Getty Photos
The approaching rule change may additionally open up new avenues of competitors, as groups may have a say on what fuels they use of their new engines. Choices together with e-fuels and biofuels can be found, which Binotto provides signifies that “gas will turn into a differentiating issue” for groups in 2026.
Apparently, Audi might have a leg up on this regard as its mum or dad firm, the Volkswagen Group, has a historical past with e-fuels. By its Porsche model, the corporate is investing closely in sustainable petrol options and has backed a manufacturing web site in Chile.
This undertaking, which kicked off in 2023, may assist Audi’s efficiency subsequent season, however Binotto admits that he’s heard “rumours” that one workforce may as soon as once more capitalise on the sweeping energy unit modifications: Mercedes. The German outfit is reportedly already a step above the remainder, and Binotto warns that the transfer to new motors may as soon as once more kickstart a interval of dominance for one workforce.
“In 2014 when a extra vital hybrid was launched on the ability unit, it was an engine championship firstly,” he says. “As a result of Mercedes had made the distinction. It is a scenario that might occur once more and people who must get better will attempt to take action.”
In fact, this doesn’t imply the season is shaping as much as be a Mercedes clear sweep as soon as once more. And we gained’t actually know the way the brand new energy items stack up till lights exit on the first race of the 2026 season.
One factor’s for positive, nevertheless. 2026 will mark a turning level within the historical past of the Sauber workforce, which final gained an F1 race in 2008 when it competed underneath one other German model: BMW.
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