Start of Audi journey is ‘extraordinary feeling’ as Jonathan Wheatley reveals new power units ‘sound good’

Jonathan Wheatley has opened up on the “extraordinary feeling” of the Audi F1 team becoming a reality, as he also revealed the new generation of power units “sound good” ahead of Formula 1’s new era of regulations.

On Tuesday night, the German manufacturer unveiled a show version of their 2026 challenger – the R26 – as they prepare to embark on their maiden season in the sport. Having taken over last season’s Kick Sauber outfit, Audi will make their Grand Prix debut in Australia with a car that will be powered by their inaugural F1 power unit.

It represents the start of a journey that began when Audi first announced their intentions to enter F1 back in August 2022 and, while the team acknowledge the scale of the challenge ahead, they hold lofty ambitions having enjoyed tremendous success in other motorsport disciplines.

Speaking at their spectacular launch event in Berlin, Team Principal Wheatley reflected on what it has taken to get to this point as he admitted he was “more emotional” than he thought he’d be at seeing the project come to fruition.

“I think it’s a manifestation of a dream almost,” he said when asked how he was feeling.

“We’ve been talking about the Audi Formula 1 project. Well, today it feels like the Audi Revolut Formula 1 team. It’s real, it’s here, everyone’s here… I hope you’re enjoying yourself as well! It’s an extraordinary feeling.”

He added: “It’s all coming together and when you see it – when you see the car, when you see everyone’s branding on the car and this becomes a team – it’s an extraordinary feeling. Honestly, I’m a little bit more emotional than I thought I’d be.”

With the countdown well and truly on for the start of the 2026 season, as F1 introduces all-new regulations and with the Barcelona Shakedown just a week away, Audi were one of the first teams to run their 2026 car on track – the team took part in a filming day at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya earlier this month.

Asked how that day went and what the emotions were like seeing the car roll out of the garage for the first time, Wheatley explained: “If you look at the build-up to that, to have launched the car that early in terms of running it on track – to pass those crash tests that you need to pass before you’re allowed to run a car the first time – at the same time, if you remember, we were repairing and trying to get ourselves back up to speed after the accidents in Brazil [Bortoleto suffered two crashes in Sao Paulo, including one heavy one in the Sprint].

“The work that went on in the factory, the planning, the absolute perfect execution of the team to do that. Then, honestly, to walk down into the race shop and see that powertrain being attached to this chassis to make the Audi Formula 1 car, it was a real extraordinary moment for me.

“Then to see [the car] out of the garage – and come back – was again [extraordinary]… and I think there’s something else I took from it. I think these engines sound good!”

While the noise from the power units sound promising for fans, there will be plenty of intrigue as to what this year’s cars will look like as teams aim to extract everything they can around the new rules for 2026.

For Audi, that is no different with the Barcelona Shakedown and two pre-season tests in Bahrain providing teams with valuable running time to work on their designs. As a result, there is every chance cars will change ahead of the first race in Australia, with teams also wanting to keep some design secrets to themselves for as long as possible.

Asked how different the R26 could look going forwards, Wheatley said: “I think, as you know, to be running the car as early as we did, we made a decision on a launch bodywork. You can probably imagine that there’s a lot more to come over the course of the season.

“But certainly, for the first race, I think most teams will be looking to introduce some kind of upgrade, perhaps in the second Bahrain test just before the first race, just to prove things correlation-wise.

“So yeah, what we’re trying to achieve next week, what we’re trying to retrieve from that test is, again, the communication across the car, making sure that the team starts to gel and work with each other.

“We’re bringing in a whole new powertrain team, working with the chassis team for the first time. So many learnings came out of that first Barcelona shakedown and there’s going to be even more next week.”

In terms of how aggressive the development race is going to be between teams this year, Wheatley also explained that it will probably take some time for everyone to understand who has the best package for 2026.

“I think if you’re behind… it’s the team that can develop the fastest and the hardest, and most successfully, that’s going to get themselves back on track again,” he said.

“It’s a whole new set of technical regulations. What surprises are there? We probably won’t really know about the performance of the cars, even in Melbourne.

“It will take a little while for us to understand who’s got the best package, what do we need to aim for and is it us?”