Audi unveils its Formula 1 colors for 2026

Formula 1’s global launch season continues, with Audi revealing the livery for its first season in the world championship during a launch event in Berlin on Tuesday.

On the same day that Honda unveiled its new power unit in Tokyo and five days after the Red Bull-owned teams launched alongside Ford in Detroit, it was Germany that hosted the next event as new works team Audi showed off the livery for its 2026 car.

The R26 has already completed a filming day in Barcelona – becoming the first 2026 car to run earlier this month in the process – and will next hit the track at the same venue for the group shakedown beginning on Monday 26th January. However, it was a show car that was used in Berlin, as the team is opting to keep any of its design hidden until that shakedown.

The R26 color scheme was first revealed as a concept in Munich late last year, and the Berlin event showed that to be the actual livery, with the addition of partner branding.

The core Audi colors of silver, black and what the team calls "lava red" make up the design, that its says is “based on our four core design principles: clarity, technology, intelligence, and emotion.”

Audi’s launch venue of Kraftwerk in Berlin was part of “a deliberate decision to meet people where culture lives, rather than in a traditional motorsport setting”, with the team committing to future city center activations during the F1 season.

“For so long now, we've been talking about the future Audi Formula 1 team or the Audi Formula 1 project,” team principal Jonathan Wheatley said. “And tonight, it becomes real. It becomes the Audi Revolut Formula 1 team.

“And it feels, for all of us that have been on this journey – I haven't been on it quite as long as Mattia [Binotto] – but for everyone in the factory, the pride in the factory, it's such an exciting time, and it's a historic moment.

“We're not here to mess around. We have a journey, it's an ambitious journey, and we're humble. We know where we're starting from, but we know where we want to go, and we want to get this team ready.

“We want Audi Formula 1 team to be the most successful Formula 1 team in history, but we have to start where we are. And there's a journey. We have measurable milestones on that journey, and we're excited to start it, and we're starting it today.”