Audi to potentially join F1 in 2016 - is there light at the end of the tunnel for the sport?

Which went on to become Brawn a small none manufacturing team who won both championships in its one and only year in F1 which in turn drew Mercedes back into the sport as a team.
 
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I'd like to see it and I'm sure they would do great, but I'm not counting on it actually happening.

As for the economics of F1 teams go bankrupt or leave the sport because their costs are greater than their revenue. The solution is simple, either lower the costs or increase the revenue. Cost reduction is always being proposed but never actually happens, so the only way to reduce costs would be to simplify the regulations so that teams can get results by spending less through clever engineering or cheaper parts (engines). The other way to help teams is to increase the prize money they receive from races but that would probably just lead to higher budgets for everybody and no change in the competitive balance.

Ultimately the F1 grid size is cyclical. Teams come and go, and always will come and go. But when there are fewer teams in F1 those that are in the sport are more likely to succeed, and thus it is attractive to join. But when the grid gets too big nobody joins, and existing teams will fold because of the way the prize money is now split.
 
Button is also apparently consider Endurance series with Porsche if Alonso nicks his drive

- not sure if Audi are serious about F1 in 2016 whether he would come back and drive as they would probably field 1 German driver and marquee driver or a driver that has appeal such as a world champion
 
Audi with the current engine rules would make a fantastic entry into the F1 arena, whether that be as a full team or just an additional engine supplier.

But they need to produce a hybrid, V6 turbo engine that they can race before that point. Oh, look, they already do that for their road cars so just performance improvements needed. Oh, hold on, they already do that under Audi Motorsport (have been known to take their 3.2l V6 up to a turbo hybrid engine that puts out 750psi plus with a road life of over 100,000 miles so not a big leap to get one that last a few thousand miles with over 800psi).

But Audi need to improve their fuel economy to the point they could survive in the low fuel consumption world of F1. But hang on, didn't they just do that for LeMans and their advantage is not the power they can produce but the fuel economy meaning less stops in an endurance race?

So they already invest in all areas that F1 would need, would just need leadership and combining of all the areas into a single engine. But here comes the big thing that means they will not do it under the current rules, they want to do all this on Diesel engines not petrol because they can then apply this to their road cars and make money from it. All the Audi sports car tech that is developed for any Audi race entry will eventually appear on road cars and be relevant to normal road usage. They had KERS systems that used your breaking energy to improve fuel economy during acceleration years ago, they drive the fuel economy figures in sports cars to the point that they now produce a V8 road car that can achieve 40+mpg on the motorway, but still accelerate like a V8 sports car. Nothing in F1 is new to them and the rules are so restrictive over fuel consumption, fuel type and engine development that it is not worth their effort when they make bigger and better advancements in other sports series that they are already making money out of.

Unless the engine and fuel rules change don't expect to see anyone from Audi making a big announcement soon, would just be extra money down the drain with no benefit gained from it...
 
Since I could see NO logic in having both Porsche and Audi competing in the Le Mans series (it would amount to fratricide), maybe they are being coy and it is really Porsche that will return to F1. You heard it here firstLOL.
 
As an Audi fan, Id love to see them get into F1 and IMO it would only be good for the sport. Certainly, there seems to be many signs pointing to them getting into F1 but Im not going to believe it until I see them on the starting grid. It would be awesome though and my fingers are crossed that it happens.
 
It would be even better if they took the opportunity to ditch the Audi name and revived their Auto Union heritage!

autod4.jpg

EDIT ... hopefully without the context of an oncoming world war this time...
 
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It would be even better if they took the opportunity to ditch the Audi name and revived their Auto Union heritage!

autod4.jpg

EDIT ... hopefully without the context of an oncoming world war this time...
There were rumors recently that Volkswagen was considering changing its name to Auto Union.
 
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