Audi has intensified its Formula 1 technical partnership with Öhlins, with the Swedish suspension specialist now playing an increasingly important role in the design, testing and performance optimisation of the team’s dampers as work accelerates on its 2027 car. The collaboration began at the start of Audi’s debut 2026 season but has now entered a more advanced joint-development phase.
Öhlins, part of the Brembo Group since 2025, has a long motorsport history with Audi stretching back to 1999. The renewed relationship now extends into Formula 1, with development work increasingly focused on the next single-seater already taking shape at Audi’s Hinwil base.
Audi and Öhlins intensify Formula 1 damper development
The strengthened partnership was officially announced on Wednesday, 15 October, as Audi expanded its cooperation with one of the world’s leading specialists in high-performance suspension technology.
Although the technical relationship had already begun at the start of the 2026 Formula 1 season, the latest phase involves a significant joint development programme centred on damper design, testing and performance optimisation.
That work has become particularly intensive during the second half of the season and is expected to feed directly into Audi’s 2027 Formula 1 car, which is already at an advanced stage of development in Hinwil.
The programme forms part of Audi’s broader effort to strengthen its technical foundations beyond its debut campaign. Mattia Binotto has previously stressed the scale of the long-term rebuilding task, with Audi’s current development phase compared with Ferrari’s transformation in 1995.
Öhlins calls Audi F1 deal a landmark moment
Urban Herslöf, Engineering Director at Öhlins Group, described the Formula 1 programme as an important milestone for the Swedish company.
“We are proud to collaborate with Audi in its debut season. For Öhlins, this represents a fundamental moment in our motorsport history and an important platform to expand our collaboration with Audi and help shape a new era of automotive performance.”
The cooperation places Öhlins directly within Audi’s technical development programme at a time when the German manufacturer is already looking beyond its first Formula 1 season and towards further improvements for 2027.
Audi and Öhlins partnership dates back to Le Mans success
The Formula 1 partnership is only the latest chapter in a long competitive relationship between Audi and Öhlins.
Between 1999 and 2016, Audi Sport competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans using Öhlins dampers across several generations of its sports prototypes. During that period, Audi claimed 13 overall victories at the famous endurance race.
Öhlins also supplied dampers to Audi during its DTM programme in the 2000s, notably for the Audi A4 DTM introduced in 2004.
The two companies are therefore renewing a technical relationship built across some of Audi’s most successful motorsport programmes, this time with Formula 1 as the focus.
Audi targets further progress with R26 before 2027
The German team led by Mattia Binotto has been moving up the Constructors’ Championship during its debut season and currently sits eighth. Audi is only seven points behind Haas, leaving the Hinwil operation with an opportunity to continue climbing the standings during the closing races.
At the same time, the team is trying to steadily increase the competitiveness of the R26, with the contribution from Öhlins expected to help in an area where precise suspension behaviour and damper performance can play an important role in extracting performance from the car.
Audi’s development work is already increasingly looking towards the next technical step. The manufacturer’s wider 2027 programme extends beyond the chassis, with its power-unit development also focused on future gains as the team works towards becoming more competitive over the coming seasons. A recent assessment of the FIA’s development framework showed that Audi is also planning its next major power-unit evolution for 2027.
For Öhlins, the expanded partnership represents a return to a familiar manufacturer at the highest level of international motorsport. For Audi, it adds another specialised technical partner to a project that is increasingly shifting from establishing its Formula 1 foundations towards improving the performance of its future cars.
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