First 2026 F1 car hits the track and early feedback arrives | F1 | Sport

Audi have become the first Formula 1 team to put their 2026 car and engine on track. On Friday, the team formerly known as Sauber held a filming day at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona which doubled as a shakedown for their new designs for the regulations that have come into force for the upcoming campaign.

Audi’s car, named the R26, was taken for a spin with both drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto scheduled to get behind the wheel. They are the first drivers to get the chance to get behind the wheel of what will feel to an extent like their new cars, though it is understood that Audi planned to run something of a mule car with the real focus of the day’s running being on putting their first in-house engine through its paces.

Under F1 rules, teams are allowed to put on two filming days, known in the FIA’s sporting regulations as ‘promotional events’, per year. Each day of running allows for a maximum of 200 kilometres’ worth of running, meaning the R26 would have been allowed to complete a maximum of 42 laps of the Spanish Grand Prix circuit on Friday.

Like all filming days, the on-track running was completed behind closed doors and so there has, and will be, no official verdict on how it went. However, reports from Spanish media have claimed that the first lap was completed “without any notable incidents”, indicating that “the basic mechanisms have worked for them”.

Many teams are not set to hit the track with their new designs until the first pre-season test, also in Barcelona, over the last week of January. Though some others are also due to use at least one of their two annual filming days as a shakedown of their new engines.

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While Audi have shown off their new livery concept, revealed at an event in Munich last November, neither they nor any of their rivals have yet pull the covers off the liveries they will race win in 2026. Red Bull and junior outfit Racing Bulls will be the first to do so, with their season launch event scheduled for Thursday, January 15, in Detroit, Michigan – the home of new engine partners Ford.

It was confirmed only earlier this week that Audi had successfully fired up their first engine. It happened at the team’s facility in Hinwil, Switzerland, on December 19 last year and marked the first time that one of their new power units had been put through its paces while attached to a chassis.

Team principal Jonathan Wheatley said: “This successful fire-up is a critical milestone that validates the quality of the work and collaboration across all departments. It energises the entire team and provides a clear focus as we prepare for the next phases of development, including the moment we first bring the car to track. This achievement brings our first race in Melbourne into sharp focus, and we will build on this foundation as one united team.”