Audi repeats: No interest in Formula 1 - GPUpdate.net


Audi is not planning to be Formula 1’s second German manufacturer alongside Mercedes-Benz, the Ingolstadt-based company has stressed. The news quashes rumours in the country’s press that the company may be considering the move.

At present, just two car manufacturers are involved in F1 in their own right – Mercedes and Fiat, with the latter racing under its Ferrari marque; despite hearsay, Audi wishes to reiterate that it will not be seen on the grid alongside them.

“We believe Formula 1 is not suitable for Audi - at least not with the technology it currently uses, which has no relevance to the development of our production vehicles,” Wolfgang Ullrich, head of Audi Motorsport, explained to German press agency SID.

Although word has already been killed off in the recent past, Audi’s superb 1-2-3 result in last month’s Le Mans 24 Hour race has sparked off speculation once again.

“Besides the fact that we still have to win at least seven more times to get to the top of the all-time Le Mans victories table, we still see Le Mans as the best platform to test and demonstrate new technologies in motorsport,” Ullrich added. “It’s more authentic than any other type of racing.”

 

Audi and Mercedes compete head-to-head in DTM. I have to admire them for sticking with what they do best and staying away from F1. Personally, I think that they get more from their development dollar (or D-Mark ) from their DTM and LeMans series efforts than they would get from pouring more money into F1. It's all about sales, and as Norbert Hoag with MB said, it basically comes down to "...win on Sunday - sell on Monday."