The 2027 Audi RS5 got its moment under the Texas sun last weekend, lapping the Circuit of the Americas during the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix with a Nürburgring 24 Hours winner behind the wheel.
Carrie Schreiner, a German racer with three consecutive podiums at the Nürburgring 24 (plus a win in 2021), a Formula Academy victory at Zandvoort, and recent trophies in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo and ADAC GT Masters, piloted the RS5 through Pirelli’s Hot Laps program. She also serves as an Audi F1 Team ambassador, which explains why the four-rings folks handed her the keys instead of a journalist.
The RS5’s drivetrain is anything but simple. A 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6 sits up front, paired with a rear-mounted electric motor and a 22-kWh lithium-ion battery pack tucked beneath the floor. Total output hits 630 horsepower and 609 lb-ft of torque, all channeled through Audi’s quattro all-wheel-drive system.
The Drive’s Joel Feder previously called the car “heavy, complicated, but somehow glorious,” which is about the most honest three-word review you can write for a performance sedan carrying a battery pack and a plug.
That weight showed at COTA. According to reporter Jerry Perez, who rode shotgun, the RS5 got picked off down the back straight by McLarens, Ferraris, Aston Martins, and Mercedes from the Hot Laps fleet. A four-door sedan hauling a hybrid powertrain isn’t going to outrun dedicated supercars on a 3.4-mile Formula 1 circuit. Physics doesn’t care about badge prestige.
But the RS5 apparently handled the track’s technical sections with composure. Those COTA esses, a sequence that punishes poorly balanced cars and separates talent from bravado, posed no issue for the quattro system or Schreiner’s experienced hands. The car looked planted, predictable, and fast enough to make its passengers grin without scaring them.
What sticks out is the contrast between the RS5 and its Hot Laps companions. It was the only four-door car in the group. Likely the cheapest, too.
And yet Perez said it would be his overall choice from the lineup, supercars included. That’s a telling preference from someone who covers this industry daily. It speaks to a gap between what impresses on paper and what you’d actually want sitting in your garage.
Audi is clearly positioning the RS5 as something broader than a track weapon. It’s a sedan, a daily driver, a performance car, and now an F1 paddock accessory. The hybrid system adds mass and complexity, but it also delivers torque figures that would have seemed absurd in this segment a decade ago.
The real test will come when more journalists get behind the wheel themselves, rather than riding shotgun while a professional handles the hard parts. Schreiner can make almost anything look effortless. The question is whether the RS5’s 630 hp and heavy hybrid bones feel as balanced when the driver doesn’t have a Nürburgring 24 Hours trophy on the shelf.
Perez says he still hasn’t driven one. He’s waiting.
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