Silverstone Showdown: Why Audi Finally Embraced Formula 1 Racing

With more than 180,000 spectators at Silverstone, the British Grand Prix proved the perfect stage for Audi’s competitive debut over the weekend – a moment steeped in motorsport history as Formula 1 marked the centenary of its first British race. On the ground, C&TH Motoring Editor Jeremy Taylor discovered how the German marque and its Revolut partnership signalled the brand’s ambitious return to the sport.

The Audi Revolut F1 Team Has Landed

Pitlane celebrities, £9,000-a-ticket hospitality, eye-catching cars to promote luxury brands: the British Grand Prix has gone stratospheric since the first race at Brooklands circuit in Surrey 100 years ago.

In 1926, just nine fearless drivers lined up on the starting grid in Surrey. Among them, land speed record holder, Sir Malcolm Campbell. The winner later collected a cheque for £1,000, with a modest cup for the driver who set the fastest lap.

Yesterday, winner Charles Leclerc did pick up the coveted RAC Trophy for Ferrari. But he and fellow top drivers now earn around £60 million-a-year, with bonuses and personal endorsements. In fact, elite F1 race-winners now command some of the biggest salaries in global sport.

Since those early days in the 1920s, racetrack speeds have more than doubled to a ballistic 250mph. However, as I discovered, getting into Silverstone as a spectator usually means arriving at a snail’s pace. Fortunately, I was buddied up with grand prix newbies, the Audi Revolut F1 Team.

Never heard of Revolut? A global finance tech company, the London-based firm offers a mobile app and fintech services, instead of traditional banking. Competing for the first time, Audi bought Swiss F1 team Sauber a few years back and then developed their own engine for the current R26 car. The investment reportedly exceeded £500 million.

Over five continents and 24 races, Audi drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto are looking to rekindle Audi’s racing heritage this season. That includes past victories in endurance racing at Le Mans and in the gruelling Dakar Rally. However, perhaps the most famous Audi racing car of all time has quite a lot to do with a name we see on more conventional Audi road cars all the time nowadays: quattro.

The original Audi Quattro, a car so legendary it’s always written with a capital ‘Q’, won 23 World Rally Championship races in the 1980s and became the moniker for all four-wheel drive Audi models today. To start a new era in F1 racing, I watched the race from the Audi House, a plush viewing point at Stowe corner. Situated at the end of Hangar Straight, this section of track is one of the fastest at Silverstone, with drivers approaching at over 180mph.

It was also opposite Landostand. The enormous curved stand is a sea of bright neon clothing, honouring the British driver who is the current F1 world champion, Lando Norris.

While Audi Revolut is also on a very fast learning curve, it would have been a tall order to expect either of their drivers to make the podium. Hulkenberg (aka The Hulk) was forced to pull up with gearbox issues, but Brazilian Bortoleto had the team’s best result of the season, claiming four points for eighth place.

Audi race director, Allan McNish, told me: ‘Overall, it’s been a very rewarding race day for the team here at Silverstone. Scoring our first points since Melbourne is a significant milestone and a reflection of the hard work, patience and determination everyone has shown over a long period of time.

‘We believed that if we kept executing well and continued to develop, the result would come, and today it did.’

Audi couldn’t stop British drivers eventually winning three of the top four places. George Russell was second, with Lewis Hamilton not far behind but on the podium. Norris finished in fourth.

And if you’re wondering why Audi has gone F1 racing now, perhaps it has something to do with the fact that next year the German brand will launch a new supercar for the road. The Nuvolari succeeds the old Audi R8 and will be the fastest production car the company has ever built, with just 499 built at around £500,000 each.

The two-seater is based on the same platform as the Lamborghini Temerario and features a 1,001bhp hybrid V8 engine. It hits 0-62mph in just 2.6 seconds and boasts three electric motors. More than enough to keep any F1 ace happy on the road.

Discover more about the Audi Revolut F1 Team at audi.co.uk