Head of Audi Motorsport denies rumors of four-ringed Formula 1 venture

Rumors of Audi entering Formula 1 have been spreading for some time. As the idea seemed somewhat unbelievable, we held off reporting on the subject until now, as Head of Audi Motorsport, Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich told German news agency SID today: "We believe formula one and Audi do not fit, so long as the technology has no relevance to the development of our production cars." Shooting down any speculation of an Audi Formula 1 team.

The rumor mill heated up last month following VW's motor racing boss Kris Nissen's comment regarding a VAG Formula 1 foray. Nissen was quoted saying: "Within the group, for sure, (the branding) could be Audi, it could be Porsche and might also be Volkswagen." After Dr. Ullrich's remark, that list is now narrowed down to Porsche or VW.

For Audi, technological breakthroughs in motorsport eventually pave the way for advances in the company's road cars. Ullrich expands on this subject by saying: "The technologies are closely related to those used by our clients, so they directly benefit from our motor racing. In F1 that is not currently the case."

In addition to lack of relevance, the average cost of a competitive Formula 1 team is over EUR 150 million. Whereas Audi's DTM budget is closer to EUR 30 million. "So, the DTM continues to be the benchmark in cost-versus-benefit," explained Ullrich.

Source: GMM via F1SA