What: Audi One
Event Type: Corporate product and motorsport strategy showcase
Location: Munich, Germany
Venue: Various Audi and Audi Sport–hosted presentation spaces (invite-only)
Dates (2025 edition): November 12, 2025
Organizers: Audi AG, Audi F1 Project, Audi Tradition
First Held: 2025
Frequency: One-Off (for now)
Audi Highlights: R26 Concept, 90 quattro IMSA GTO, R8 LMP1, quattro A2 Rally, Sport quattro S1 Pike’s Peak, Auto Union Type C, RS Q e-tron, S1 Hoonitron
Featured Guests: Frank Biela, Mattia Binotto, Stig Blomqvist, Gabriel Bortoleto, Dindo Capello, Harald Demuth, Stefano Domenicali, Gernot Döllner, Massimo Frascella, Nico Hülkenberg, Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish, Michèle Mouton, Fabrizia Pons, Hans Joachim Stuck, Jonathan Wheatley
OVERVIEW
Audi One was a corporate event organized by Audi AG in Munich, conceived as a high-profile platform for the brand to outline future strategy, debut major design studies, and present long-term technology and motorsport programs. The 2025 edition of Audi One is best known for the global unveiling of the Audi R26 concept, the first complete expression of Audi’s visual identity and technical direction for its 2026 entry into Formula One.
Held on November 12, 2025, the event was structured as a combined design reveal, technology briefing, and corporate keynote, bringing together Audi board members, Audi Sport leadership, technical partners, and select media. Audi One marked one of the most significant moments in the brand’s motorsport history since its Le Mans and Group B quattro eras.
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BACKGROUND
Audi announced its intention to enter Formula One in 2022, committing to the new 2026 FIA power unit regulationsfocused on sustainable fuels and increased electrification. Following the formal acquisition of a majority stake in the Sauber Group, the organization underwent a multi-year transition to become the Audi Formula One Team, headquartered in Hinwil, Switzerland, with powertrain operations based in Neuburg an der Donau.
Ahead of the Audi One event, the brand maintained an unusually quiet approach to public disclosures. Only a 2022-era mockup show car and scattered supplier announcements hinted at Audi’s progress. The R26 concept’s reveal at Audi One represented the first complete, up-to-date visualization of the team’s technical and aesthetic philosophy.
AUDI R26 CONCEPT
The Audi R26 concept is a full-scale design study illustrating Audi’s envisioned 2026 Formula One chassis and aerodynamic package under the new FIA regulations. While not a functional race car, the concept was created to reflect Audi’s design language, livery direction, aerodynamic priorities, packaging intent, and branding strategy for the inaugural season.
The R26 concept emphasized:
- A refined aerodynamic profile in line with 2026 ground-effect simplifications
- A tightly integrated power unit and cooling layout
- A distinctive Audi front wing and nose design with emphasis on visual clarity
- A chassis and sidepod treatment consistent with Audi’s emerging performance design identity
- A livery incorporating Audi’s updated corporate color palette and motorsport branding
The study was also used to demonstrate how Audi intends to reconcile F1’s technical restrictions with the brand’s broader design philosophy of reduction, coherence, and functional expression.
POWER UNIT DIRECTION
During the event, Audi confirmed progress on its 2026 hybrid power unit, developed at the Audi Formula Racing GmbH facility in Neuburg. The R26 concept was paired visually with components of the upcoming PU, including the MGU-K, battery systems, and the sustainable-fuel-ready internal combustion engine designed for the new regulations.
Audi One clarified that the company views Formula One as a technological lighthouse project, with a planned transfer of hybrid and efficiency learnings into future road-car platforms.
TEAM STRUCTURE & PARTNERS
Audi One also served as an opportunity to outline the organizational structure of the Audi Formula One Team. Key leadership appointments were highlighted, including technical, commercial, and design roles. Audi additionally confirmed strategic partners—including energy, apparel, and financial-technology companies—that will appear on the 2026 livery and team uniforms.
The event reiterated that the team’s base of operations will remain in Hinwil, with powertrain development at Neuburg, and that the first race under full Audi branding will occur at the start of the 2026 Formula One season.
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MOTORSPORT DNA, AN AUDI TRADITION
As part of the Audi One program, the presentation included a dedicated Audi Tradition integration that underscored the brand’s historic motorsport lineage. Executives, motorsport legends, and key figures associated with Audi’s racing past arrived in a curated selection of iconic competition machines maintained by Audi Tradition. The procession featured everything from Group B–era quattro machinery to Le Mans–winning prototypes, each driven or accompanied by personalities linked to the cars themselves. This symbolic convergence of heritage and future served as a visual bridge between Audi’s most celebrated moments in rallying and endurance racing and its forthcoming entry into Formula One, reinforcing the message that the R26 concept is the next chapter in a legacy defined by innovation, competition, and technological ambition.
RECEPTION & SIGNIFICANCE
The reveal of the R26 concept at Audi One was widely considered a major milestone in Audi’s F1 preparations, marking the shift from theoretical announcements to a tangible public vision of the program. For the brand, the event symbolized both a return to top-tier motorsport competition and the beginning of a new chapter linking Formula One technology with Audi’s long-term product strategy.
Audi One is expected to become a recurring platform for major corporate and motorsport announcements, though future dates and formats have not yet been confirmed.
PHOTO GALLERY
