Formula 1 News: Audi F1 R26 car spied at Barcelona – sounds horrible
The first images and sounds of the 2026 Audi F1 car have been spotted online following its shakedown run from Barcelona.
After a handful of years of planning and development, the car officially took to the track for the first time on Friday as the team got its season up and running.
The video shows the car rounding a handful of corners, but no details of the car can be deciphered given the distance.
The side radiator inlets on the sidepod are fairly radical, although the image are not very clear.
The engine note is not dissimilar to the previous generation of power units, although the car sounds like it is passing gas (farting) when the driver lets off the accelerator at the end of the video. We suspect it is because these new tree-hugger F1 cars need to harvest energy as much as possible to feed the larger energy store for 2026.
La prima monoposto 2026 e’ Audi che sta girando al Montmelo’. #F1 #AudiF1 #ShakeDown pic.twitter.com/5sNcSE2Bx9
— RobertoF1 (@robertofunoat) January 9, 2026
