F1 analyst delivers big Audi F1 prediction due to their ‘unbelievable habit’

Henry Valantine 12 Aug 2023 7:30 PM

Le Mans winner Richard Bradley believes Audi could be “unbelievably successful” in Formula 1, given their track record of success elsewhere.

Bradley spent a significant portion of his endurance racing career on the same grid as the dominant Audi LMP1 team, giving him the opportunity to see how they work in close quarters from within the paddock in the World Endurance Championship.

The German marque are due to enter Formula 1 fully from 2026 when the sport’s technical regulations reset, and their majority takeover of Sauber is complete, making them a new ‘factory’ team when they eventually join the grid.

Audi have ‘unbelievable habit’ of dominance in every category

Having experienced success at the top level in multiple categories in the past, Bradley highlighted the fact that Audi have dropped other motorsport endeavours to be able to focus on their Formula 1 push.

“奥迪这个难以置信的每一个的习惯type of racing they go into, they are unbelievably successful,” Bradley said on theOn Track GP podcast.

“Any level: sportscars, they dominated for years. DTM, they dominated, rally cars, they dominated, so everything Audi does, they take it very seriously.

“Audi have cancelled their Formula E programmes, their GT programmes, purely to put all this effort into Formula 1.”

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奥迪可能成为quic不容小觑的力量kly

Bradley predicts that Audi competing at the front from the get-go will probably be too tall an order, however, given the requirement in the regulations for the cars to not be effective ‘copies’ of previously successful models.

But given how he has experienced seeing how they work, he believes Audi will become a strong force within Formula 1 in the not-too-distant future.

When asked how Audi could do from the off in 2026, Bradley responded: “It’s too much to ask [to win], especially since the FIA brought in the copycat regulation, which basically meant that if you remember Racing Point effectively copying Mercedes a couple of years ago in the COVID era, and then obviously, we had the same with Haas. When they first came in, it was basically a Ferrari.

“I think with the regulations like that now, it will be hard. But I mean, having been around Audi for most of my professional career, I’ve seen that the level that they operate, and how they go into things, they will be a force to be reckoned with.”