rumour of audi in f1

[Dave Eaton <dave.eaton@minedu.govt.nz>]

to add (some) substance to the rumour, the 'audi is negotiating to purchase the benneton f1 team' rumour was repeated on espn2 during monaco qualifying and during the race itself...

i wonder if audi is prepared for the commitment required?  only fiat have proven that they can do chassis and engine in f1.  bmw is strongly rumoured to be going to announce an engine deal with williams for 1999 and beyond, and mercedes (aka illmor) is of course the engine supplier to mclaren - so there is strong reasons for vw's premium brand to be represented at the top level of the sport (also due to the profile of the sport in germany due to micky i-also-walk-on-water schumacher, brother ralf and hh frentzen).  purchasing an existing team would also seem to be a sensible move.

on the positive side, renault will continue to supply engines to benneton by proxy next year which gives audi 18 months to get their engine up to speed (absolute minimum at this level of the sport i suspect - bmw says 2 years).

on the negative side, it is extremely hard to win in f1, it takes most years to get to the top, and it gets harder all the time...

still there is no official confirmation of the rumour and benneton is in reasonable shape...

i wonder what the price is?  also what would this mean for audi in super (class 2) touring?

i wonder if audi know that turbos and awd are now banned in f1???   ;-)

-dave
'95 rs2
'90 ur-q