Cadillac’s deliberate entry into Components 1 provides additional worth to Audi’s personal challenge that begins in full in 2026, in keeping with its CEO Gernot Döllner.
Audi is taking on the Sauber group at present competing as Stake to have its personal works set-up from the beginning of the brand new laws in 12 months time. There’s set to be one other new group becoming a member of on the identical stage with Common Motors changing into the eleventh constructor on the grid – topic to receiving its official entry from the FIA – and Döllner says it’s an arrival that reinforces Audi’s personal place.
“Yeah, a brand new OEM is coming to hitch Components 1,” Döllner stated. “It exhibits the strengths of Components 1 and that platform, and it’s a robust sign to have one other OEM within the lineup. And I believe competitors is what we want, and it’s simply including worth to our challenge.”
Audi introduced extra sources for its F1 challenge although an funding from the Qatar Funding Authority (QIA) in November, with the deal coming into impact this month, and Döllner says there have been quite a lot of events eager to be concerned.
“We have been approached by a whole lot of traders, so we didn’t actually have to start out a search. However one yr in the past, Qatar … they visited our Hinwil facility, [and] the powertrain unit, and from what they’ve seen there – professionalism, the strategic imaginative and prescient, the setup – they have been satisfied. From there on, we’ve got been in constructive discussions and constructed that partnership.”
Döllner additionally believes the extra funding dropped at the desk by QIA reinforces Audi’s dedication to its F1 challenge, and just like the Cadillac challenge – that features funding from billionaire Mark Walter – exhibits it has the useful resource to ultimately problem on the entrance.
“Bringing on this sturdy companion is a mannequin a whole lot of different groups have. And it’s, from our perspective, a vital step to turn into one of many high groups sooner or later.
“At Audi, the challenge is seen positively anyhow, and I believe it simply strengthens the message that we’re actually right into a long-term funding in Components 1. And it’s a capital injection to the challenge, so it doesn’t scale back Audi’s dedication, it provides cash to the challenge. So, it’s a robust sign.”
