Audi put its new 2026 Formula 1 car on track for the first time on 9 January in Barcelona. The shakedown marked the first on-track step of the team’s debut season as a full works entrant.
Audi sent its new 2026 Formula 1 car onto the track for the first time on 9 January, completing an early shakedown in Barcelona before its debut campaign as a full factory team.
Audi
Audi- Races (entries):2
- Wins:0
- Podiums:0
- World titles:0
- Poles:0
- Fastest laps:0
Data source: F1DB (GitHub)
The run moved Audi’s F1 project from design rooms and dynos to real asphalt. A first shakedown is not about outright pace, but about checking core systems, validating installation work and confirming that car and power unit function together in live running. For a new manufacturer entry, that first day carries even more weight because it is the first practical test of how the whole project operates under track conditions.
Audi also became the first team to run a 2026-spec car, which gave the programme an early symbolic statement as Formula 1 prepared for a major new rules cycle. Barcelona offered a controlled setting for those first kilometres, allowing the team to gather baseline data before the heavier work of pre-season testing.
