Early this year in June the announcement was made that Audi would finally appear on the grid with their own team and with their own power unit. Rumours of Audi and the Formula One can be traced back to the late 1970s. In those days, almost all manufacturers seemed to be interested in the Formula One. One of the biggest examples was Renault that came with their Turbo engine and unleashed a revolution in the Formula One. Audi was rumoured since to appear in the Formula One either as manufacturer of engine supplier. However, in 1994 some interesting stories appeared in the paddock about Audi batch Cosworth V10 engines. Hyped around Michael Schumacher and Benetton.
Before we dive deeper into the Audi batched Cosworth engines we have to set the time back nine years earlier to 1985. Around September Motoring News published a front-cover article about an Audi Formula One car with, I assume, their own 5-cylinder turbo engine. Assumable for 1986 or 1987. On the front-cover was an artist’s impression of the Audi. I look all over the web, libraries, physical and digital archives to see if I could find it. So far without any luck. Only the well-known Forix website has a mentioning about this project.
Keep in mind in 1985 Audi was fully focussing on their Rally efforts. They were running a three-car team in the WRC at that time.
Nine years later Audi re-appears in the media again linked to the Formula One, with Simtek somewhat involved. In 1994, Nick Wirth debuted his Simtek team in the Formula One. Doing so he signed a technical partnership with Schmidt Motor Sport (the SMS on the car). That same SMS was twice the winner of the German Touring Car Championship with the Audi Quattro V8. This link with SMS and Audi in previous years led to speculations that Audi could work on their own V10 engine program. This could have been with Simtek itself. However, Nick Wirth stated In Autosport issue of 27 January 1994 that there was collaboration between Simtek and Audi. As Simtek Research would remain neutral.
It wouldn’t take long before Audi would re-appear in the media regarding a V10 program. In February rumours appeared that Audi was linked to Benetton as engine supplier in a deal where Cosworth was involved with for 1995 and onwards. It is a bit technical to explain this could be deal between the two.
It all started when representatives of Audi visited the Cosworth’s Northamptonshire factory in early February 1994. Audi Motorsport Boss at the time Dr. Wolfang Ulrich stated that it doesn’t have to be about Formula One when they visited Cosworth. The company had supplier in English and connections with Cosworth. A German Newspaper put more oil on the fire by publishing an article stating that BMW and Audi were battling over Schumacher. Wolfgang stated as well that there was no move to the Formula One. A year before in 1993 the Audi sales plunged badly in 1993 with 80 million dollar.
At the end of 1994, the three-year contract Ford had with Benetton and Cosworth would expire. It meant for Benetton that getting a new engine would probably mean that their biggest asset, Michael Schumacher, could leave the team at the end of the season. Around that time, there were rumours of Michael Schumacher to leave Benetton for another team on the grid such as McLaren and even Jordan Grand Prix.
While Audi declined officially that there was no deal to be made between Audi and Cosworth, which was acknowledge by Dick Scammel from Cosworth the rumours seemed to become stronger. It would not be the first badging deal in the Formula One. At that time there was a similar deal made between Mercedes-Benz and Ilmor. The Ilmor engines powered the Sauber cars; these were Mercedes-Benz engines. This had to do with Sauber’s link with Mercedes. Dick Scammel did state that his company was looking to build a brand new engine even if this was without Ford. Having them on board to batch the engines would be a good move for Benetton. In the end, Michael Schumacher was hot property in 1993/94.
Eventually Benetton would sign a contract with Renault to supply them with engines from 1995 onwards. However, in 1994 Briatore purchased the Ligier team from Guy Ligier. The team could have some uses as well for the Benetton team. At that time, there were still the rumours that Audi and BMW were stilling looking towards Formula One. Link this to use the team for young driving talent and you have a competitive Benetton Junior team.
However, It never happened. Ford stayed in the Formula One eventually also Cosworth. Both companies not linked with Audi who seemed to disappear from the scene once more. Fast forward, in 2026 Audi will eventually appear on the grid after they took over the Sauber team.
