Audi admits 'very large' 2026 F1 engine gap

Audi team director Mattia Binotto says the team’s biggest problem at the start of the 2026 Formula 1 season is a “very large” power-unit deficit to the front-runners, a shortfall he said was expected from the outset rather than a surprise crisis.

“When we evaluate the performance on track, I think the most obvious thing is the difference we have in the power unit, which for us is not a surprise,” Binotto said. “As a completely new engine manufacturer, it is natural to expect a gap to the best organizations.” He added that Audi does not see the situation as panic-worthy. “It is not a matter of desperation. On the contrary, it is understanding where we are. It is a very large gap, we believe, but we have a development plan for the future and we are focused on that.”

The scale of the problem became especially clear in Miami, where the power unit’s weaknesses hurt overall performance and technical issues affected the team across the weekend. Audi’s early campaign has also been shaped by reliability trouble, with what Binotto described elsewhere as too many zeros, including technical non-starts and disqualifications for irregularities affecting Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto.

That has left Audi with only two points from its first four race weekends. Those came when Bortoleto finished ninth on the team’s debut in Australia, but neither he nor Hülkenberg has added to that total since, leaving Audi ninth in the constructors’ championship after four rounds.

Binotto nevertheless said the team had anticipated a difficult start under the new rules and remains satisfied with the broader progress so far. “There are completely new regulations and I have to say that overall we are satisfied with what we have achieved so far,” he said. “In F1 it is very easy to get things wrong and you can see around us that other teams have even more difficulties.”

He made clear, though, that Audi’s long-term ambition remains unchanged. Binotto said closing the gap will require gains well beyond the power unit alone, pointing to the need for improvements in structure, team size, tools, operational capacity and staff development. The target remains to build toward championship contention by 2030, with 2026 being treated as the start of a long catch-up effort rather than a season that will be judged on immediate results.