AUDI'S FORMULA 1 DAWN

As this season's F1 reaches its thrilling conclusion, James Elson is in Germany to witness the birth of a new racing dream

- James Elson

In a nondescript German factory corridor, bright shafts of light break through the gaps in a shutter. Suddenly the corrugated metal door starts to rise as the dazzling white beams bursts forth, causing the small crowd assembled in the passageway to take a step and shield their eyes.

All that's missing is the Also Sprach Zarathustra theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey to accompany what promised for a second to be a seismic moment, but all ends in a bit of an anticlimax.

Revealed is a few studious, bespectacled engineers who turn round to stare at us in mild annoyance, before going back to their work without saying a word.

Still, we're in the middle of something historic here. Motor Sport has been invited to Audi's famous Neuburg motor sport facility to take a sneak peek behind the scenes as the German marque goes flat out to get its hugely complex, 1.6-litre hybrid engine ready for the Formula 1 season opener in March. The engineers in front of us are carefully constructing the beating heart of the silver machine.

It's from this building that Audi has conquered Le Mans, WRC, the Dakar Rally and more: out of all the brands that have competed anywhere but modern F1, it's surely the most successful. Now though, over 80 years since it reigned supreme in prewar grand prix racing as Auto Union, Audi is set to join the world championship - and intent on doing things its own way.

Our factory tour is a precursor to the marque announcing itself on the world stage with a glitzy livery launch for the 2026 F1 car, dubbed the R26, nearby that evening.

At the event, the clink of champagne glasses is brutally interrupted by the eviscerating roar of a V16 engine, as a 1930s Auto Union C-type tears across a vast expanse of asphalt before pulling up outside the giant marquee.