Audi vs Mercedes – The pre-WW2 rivalry reignited in F1 in 2026

In 2026, the Audi name will join the Formula One grid for the first time. The iconic German manufacturer completed a 100% takeover of the Kick Sauber team, which will see them enter F1 next year when new regulations including a 50/50 split in power from the internal combustion engine and battery as well as 100% sustainable fuel are introduced.

The Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli and Kick Sauber (becoming Audi next year) side by side in the pit lane at the Australian Grand Prix. (Photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images)

Audi first officially announced that they would join F1 at the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix , announcing a partnership with Sauber a few months later. After initially planning to acquire 75% of the Swiss team, in 2024 Audi decided to acquire 100% of Sauber. Audi have also brought the Qatar Investment Authority on board to take a minority stake in the team thought to be about 30%. Audi have a very successful history in motorsport, especially in endurance racing and rallying. Arguably their most significant success in motorsport came at 24 Hours of Le Mans, where they have 13 overall victories, the second most for a manufacturer only behind Porsche. They have also won the Nürburgring 24 Hours 7 times and Spa 24 Hours 4 times. In rallying they have won 4 World Rally Championship titles with the Audi quattro. In more recent times, Audi won the Formula E Teams’ Championship in the 2017/18 season and powered Lucas di Grassi to the Drivers’ Title the prior season. Despite all their success, the four rings from Ingolstadt have never raced in Formula One, until now.

(Photo: Audi Media Center)

When Audi join the grid next year, they’ll be going head-to-head with fellow German manufacturer Mercedes, reigniting a once great rivalry in Grand Prix racing in the 1930’s. In 1932 four automotive companies, Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer merged to create Auto Union. This is where the four rings logo came from, with each ring representing one of the original companies. In 1969 Auto Union would merge with NSU to form Audi NSU Auto Union, shortened to Audi in 1985. After the 1932 merger, Auto Union saw Grand Prix racing as the best way to promote the new Auto Union name. 

Auto Union entered Grand Prix racing in 1934 when new regulations imposing a maximum weight of 750kg were introduced. They would join some familiar names in Grand Prix racing like Alfa Romeo, Scuderia Ferrari, Bugatti, Maserati and Mercedes. Auto Union entered with their new car, the Type-A, a rear-engined car fitted with a supercharged V16 engine. The car was designed by a team including the legendary Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, the man behind the iconic manufacturer Porsche. Porsche was originally an engineering consultancy and was involved in the design of all of Auto Union’s Grand Prix cars. Mercedes built the W25 for the new regulations. It was a front-engined car equipped with a straight-8 engine. Mercedes were a better financed and more professional racing outfit and all of their cars were built in-house at Daimler-Benz factories.

The Auto Union Type A’s were painted silver while Mercedes opted for the German national racing colour of white for the W25. But when the latter weighed in at 752kg, Mercedes stripped the paint off to meet the weight requirements, exposing the silver aluminium body. This is where the nickname of ‘The Silver Arrows’ came from and was originally used to describe the silver cars of both Auto Union and Mercedes, rather than just Mercedes as it is most commonly used today.

Mercedes W125 Grand Prix car (Photo: Wouter Melissen)

Both teams managed multiple race victories in 1934, but the Mercedes team beat their German rivals with four wins to Auto Union’s three. Auto Union decided to build a new car for 1935 to try to beat Mercedes. They entered the 1935 season with the new Type-B, which had an increased engine output and rear torsion bar suspension to improve handling, a prominent issue with the Type-A.

Mercedes made some updates to their W25 but it remained mostly the same. Alfred Neubauer, Mercedes team manager was confident that his star-studded driver lineup of Luigi Fagioli, Manfred Von Brauchitsch and Rudolf Caracciola would lead his team to glory. In 1935 Auto Union found their own star driver in Bernd Rosemeyer. Rosemeyer had raced motorcycles for DKW, which was part of Auto Union. Mercedes dominated the season, winning 13 races with Auto Union only managing 4 with their new car. Caracciola was crowned European Champion, the pre-1950 equivalent of the F1 World Championship, with 6 wins. The following year, Auto Union finally usurped their German rivals with their new Type-C, which was essentially a much more powerful version of the Type-B. They won 6 races – 5 of which were won by Rosemeyer, who was crowned 1936 European champion, including a famous victory in heavy fog at the Eifel Grand Prix. Mercedes floundered, only managing 2 race wins all season.

For 1937, Mercedes introduced their new car they had been working on since 1935, the W125. It was designed by their chief designer Rudolf Uhlenhaut. The new car was longer and lower to the ground than the W25. But its most impressive feature was undoubtedly the 5.6L straight-8 engine that could turn out almost 650 horsepower. This made it the most powerful Grand Prix car ever at the time. With their new car, Mercedes bounced back to win 8 races with Auto Union winning 6 and Caracciola once again won the European Championship.

Alongside their rivalry in Grand Prix racing, Mercedes and Auto Union also went head-to-head for land speed records. They both built streamlined cars, taking them to newly built section of Germany’s autobahn to attempt to take the record. In October 1937, Rosemeyer and Auto Union beat Mercedes and Caracciola to the record, hitting 253.95mph (408.6kmh). They would meet again in January 1938. Caracciola broke Rosemeyer’s record, hitting 270.4mph (435.1kph). Rosemeyer wanted to take back his record straight away despite being warned of worsening weather conditions. While on a record attempt, it is thought that an incredibly strong gust of wind hit the car causing Rosemeyer to lose control and the car to go airborne. Rosemeyer was thrown from the car after it hit a bridge embankment and was tragically killed.

Mercedes and Audi Battling On Track (Sportscar365.com)

For the 1938 season, rule changes meant Auto Union needed a new car as well as a new star driver. The obvious choice was the Italian legend Tazio Nuvolari. He had been a great friend and admirer of Rosemeyer since his performance in the fog at the 1936 Eifel Grand Prix, and left Alfa Romeo to join Auto Union as a tribute to him. The new regulations increased the weight limit to 850kg and capped supercharged engine capacity at 3 litres and 4.5 litres for naturally aspirated engines. Auto Union equipped their new star driver with the Type-D. This car was so ahead of its time, it’s said to have set the precedent for the Formula One cars of the 60s. It was a mid-engined car with independent front and rear torsion bar suspension and centralised mass to improve direction change, all concepts widely adopted in F1 in the 1960s, over 20 years later. The car was powered by a 3 litre supercharged V12 engine.

Mercedes built the W154 for the 1938 season, a shorter, lower and sleeker car than its predecessor. Due to the new engine regulations Mercedes were forced to abandon the supercharged straight-8 engines they had used in all of their Grand Prix cars since 1934, also opting for a supercharged 3 litre supercharged V12 engine. Mercedes once again got the better of their fellow Germans, with 6 wins and just 2 for Auto Union. Rudolf Caracciola won his third European Championship.

For 1939, both Mercedes and Auto Union made updates to their 1938 cars. This would be the last season before the outbreak of World War II. Mercedes would beat Auto Union for the final time, winning 5 races while Auto Union won just 3. Britain and France declared war on Germany less than two weeks after the last Championship race in Switzerland. The Italian Grand Prix was scheduled to be the final race in September, but due to construction work it was known that it would not go ahead despite not officially being cancelled. There were also disputes over which points system should be used, as such no European Champion was officially announced. If the official points system where positions are counted as points (similar to golf where the lowest score wins) was used, Auto Union’s Hermann Paul Müller would have been champion. There was dissatisfaction with this system and calls for a points system similar to the modern one to be used, which would’ve seen Mercedes’s Hermann Lang become Champion. The difference in champions came from how the old system scored DNFs with the maximum points, which was very harsh in a system where the aim was to have as little points as possible. Müller was the unofficial European Champion of 1939, while German motorsport authorities declared Lang as Champion.

While there were Grands Prix held between 1940 and 1945, an organised championship did not return until 1946. Most Grands Prix held during World War II took place in the United States and South America. The teams of Mercedes and Auto Union would not race in their 1930s forms again. 

It is unknown how closely matched Audi and Mercedes will be when their rivalry is reignited under the new F1 regulations in 2026, but perhaps one day they’ll be the dominant forces in Grand Prix racing again.