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
Technical director James Key said the early running was crucial for Audi given it’s the only brand-new power unit manufacturer in the sport this year.
The new power unit, which features an almost 50-50 split between internal combustion and electrical energy, is expected to be the biggest performance differentiator this year.
“As one of only two new guys on the block with this [as an engine manufacturer], you really do need a track reference,” Key said.
“We agreed, we try and hit the track as quickly as we can. The problem with that when you think about how the development process of these cars has gone, from a technical reg [regulations] point of view, everything was speculative until 1 January [2025], when we could start doing the aero.
“Of course the aero defines the car, so you’ve got a very, very late start. You want to go [develop] for as long as possible, but then you’re running early [in 2026], so everything has been compressed massively over winter.”
