More rumours surrounding Audi’s entry into F1: here's what's going on!

By now, it is starting to become a repetitive story: every few months, a rumour pops up somewhere that Audi are still considering pulling the plug on their phone upcoming F1 adventure. This week it's happened once again, as Bild came out with the announcement that chief development officer Oliver Hoffmann is said to be about to leave the company.

According to several (German-language) media outlets, Hoffman is stepping down as he has a difference of opinion with CEO Gernot Dollner over Audi's future. Hoffman - a pioneer of the F1 project - would also reportedly be blamed for disappointing sales figures and the models introduced under his leadership not being a success.

The Supervisory Board is said to give an opinion on whether or not Hoffman should stay on in the near future, after which the Volkswagen Group's Supervisory Board should make a final judgment. If Hoffman has to step down, there could be consequences for the F1 project, in which Hoffman would play an even more prominent role - or so it is said.

'Audi would be open to selling Sauber shares'

A possible departure of one of the frontrunners would come at a time when there would be renewed doubts internally at Audi about continuing with the Formula 1 adventure, according to German media. If Hoffman leaves, it would only be a small step to quit the F1 adventure altogether. German media speculate that the manufacturer are even open to a sale of Sauber shares.

When asked, Audi would not comment on Hoffman's possible departure. GPblog subsequently spoke to those involved and thus understood that there need be no doubt: Audi still fullybintend to be on the F1 grid from 2026, even if Hoffman were to leave Audi.