3 automotive giants that were utter failures in F1 as constructors

Audi will be stepping up as an F1 constructor in 2026, with the team having already begun working back in Germany. The automotive giant has not raced at the pinnacle of motorsports before.

However, Audi is not the first automotive company to step into the world of Formula 1. There are already brands like Honda, Ferrari, and Mercedes that are part of the sport. In that sense, Audi's entry is nothing new. Having said that, there are already question marks over how the German brand is going to fare when it starts its journey in F1.

The first thing that comes to mind is the lackluster nature in which Sauber (the outfit in which the majority of the shares will be eventually bought by Audi) is operating. The team has not done a good job in terms of building contenders but what's worse is the lack of selling power of the team.

There's almost anonymity around the team's driver line up which is just not a good thing for anyone involved. To add to this, before Audi makes its debut, the brand would want to have a baseline in place already.

Unfortunately, no work has been done it seems. So much so that there were even rumors that the German brand was considering pulling out of F1 since the top management had seen a regime change.

By the looks of it, all such threats have been quelled and there is no indication of Audi not even entering the sport. Having said that, when these speculations start doing the rounds, it's just not ideal for any brand and there was almost a similarity to other brands that have made it to Formula 1 and fallen by the wayside.

While on one side Audi would be looking to emulate the success of a Mercedes, Ferrari, and other top automotive giants in the sport, there's a threat as well that it turns out to be a failure like quite a few automotive giants have been in the past.

While the success stories do get publicized a lot more there have been stories of failure as well. In this piece, we will take a look at automotive giants that made it to F1 but failed spectacularly.

#1 Toyota

Arguably the biggest disaster in F1 has to be Toyota because of how the brand just recklessly threw more and more money into the project with no results whatsoever.

The Japanese brand was part of the sport from 2002 to 2009 and in terms of splurging money, it spared no expense. In terms of success? Well, there was nothing to show for it.

Forget fighting for a title one day, Toyota did not win even a single race in F1. Why did something like this happen? Well, the major issue was a lack of identification that you need star characters as part of your team if you want to succeed.

The Japanese brand had a stunning facility in place and its wind tunnel in Cologne is still in use. But when you talk about drivers then Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher did not inspire much confidence, and neither did the senior management.

In the end, it was the global meltdown that pulled Toyota away from F1 for good.

#2 Jaguar F1

Jaguar came into F1 after taking over from an efficient outfit in Stewart. However, from the first day, some things did not truly make the most sense. General Motors tried to get the right people in place, including names like Guenther Steiner but the the operation never truly took off.

In the eyes of many, there was a lack of understanding of the magnitude of the task at hand to be successful in F1. Jaguar underestimated that and even though experienced people like Gary Anderson and Eddie Irvine tried to guide the ship early in its journey, it never truly got the guidance it was after.

In the end, the Milton Keynes-based operation was sold to a certain drinks company named Red Bull and we all know what happened after that.

#3 Honda

Honda is a case of so near yet so far if there was ever any such case in F1. The Japanese brand had taken baby steps by first starting in F1 with an association with BAR. Once the project was fully taken over by Honda in 2006, the team won its first race that very season with Jenson Button.

After two years of struggle when Ross Brawn was relentlessly working in the background to build the team infrastructure, 2009 was supposed to be the year when Honda was supposed to take over the sport.

Unfortunately, that never happened as the global meltdown meant that the team decided to leave the sport at the end of the 2008 season.

Against Ross Brawn's desperate wishes of trying to convince the brand to stay, that didn't happen. Ironically, the team was sold to Brawn, who would sweep both championships in 2009.