For the first time, Audi's Formula 1 presence is being felt. And with it, the German giant is starting to signal it is finally bringing together what its F1 project actually needs.
Audi's glitzy Munich 'launch' event and unorthodox approach with a concept livery just two months out from revealing the real thing could seem like a futile exercise in corporate extravagance.
That would lean too heavily to the cynical side, though. The event certainly served a business purpose, but it was a good display of the firepower Audi has when the corporate and racing interests align.
Inevitably, there was a lot of corporate speak. In that sense Audi's immediately slotted in seamlessly with the jargon-heavy, commercially bloated world of F1. And at least it could be stomached.
As unexpected guest F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said, the last few years have passed very quickly, so for Audi to have something tangible in the form of a show car and a prototype livery did act like a significant statement in itself: not just 'we're coming' but, in fact, 'we're already here'.
But also, crucially, any corporate noise was broken up and largely drowned out by what was, at its best, some stuff of real substance and a dazzling display of proper motorsport heritage.
The 'legacy' element was not a cheap, token gesture to nod to the past and placate a long line of men in suits. There was sincere reverence for Audi's motorsport history around the R26 Concept reveal and a display of motorsport might and heritage that few manufacturers could match - and fewer still would bother to showcase like this.
All of this is great, and well done to Audi for doing it. But it can mean, tangibly, very little. Certainly success in the past guarantees nothing for the future. At least Audi's aware of this: there were various references to the manufacturer winning everything it's tried to win, and never turning up to compete, but again it was laced with realism that F1's going to take time to crack.
Assuming of course, Audi does actually crack it.
Early on, there was too much in-fighting, an initial underestimation of what would be required to transform Sauber, and not enough authority in the right places. It is a shame that this under-utilised the good, three-and-a-half-year runway Audi had up to the start of 2026 - most likely on the Sauber side, delaying the investment that was and still is required there, to turn it into a big hitter.
It is probably 18 months or two years behind where it could have been if it had done it right from the start, and that's reflected in revised expectations that mean a target of fighting for world championships by 2030. But at least that reflects reality, and crucially an acceptance of it.
In turn that ties into Audi's F1 plan becoming more credible and robust. And frankly the prospect of Audi hitting its target one day seems a lot more compelling now than 12 months ago for many reasons, all of which were reflected in Wednesday night's event.
The positive trajectory of Sauber on-track has given Audi's soon-to-be works team some real-world momentum. The clearer and more logical structure across the project was symbolised by Audi chief Gernot Döllner repeatedly being flanked by Audi F1 head Mattia Binotto and team principal Jonathan Wheatley. And there is a quiet confidence that the internal reviews and restructures that came into effect through 2024 have yielded the necessary results on the team side while also pushing the engine on to what should (at the very least) be a decent starting point.
On a giant screen behind Döllner during a pre-reveal speech, there was a countdown to the Australian Grand Prix, the 2026 season opener. Audi has just over 100 days before it goes racing. If any of the above was truly a red flag, the time would be too short - and the cracks would be showing. Corporate sheen can only mask so much.
Instead there is a sense of cautious contentedness that, even if Audi's 2026 debut is not quite as good as it could have been had it maximised every day of the last three and a half years, it has at least been rescued from something that would be ill-befitting of the history that Audi showed off on Wednesday, and potentially even embarrassing for such an automotive and motorsport giant.
Whatever progress has been made on the Sauber side, and however good Audi's first crack at an F1 engine turns out to be, this entry is almost certainly several years from being a proper frontrunner.
What it has in its favour now is a trajectory and plan that looks a lot more credible in terms of making the progress required. Audi's Munich event was a first public signal of that - and certainly much more than just pulling the covers off a split livery.
