Andreas Seidl has now admitted where Sauber need to progress ‘significantly’ if Audi is to fight at the front of the Formula 1 field when the automotive giants join in 2026.
Audi will take Sauber over from the 2026 season after purchasing 100% control of the Hinwil natives. The Swiss squad will continue to operate as Sauber next season in what will be their 33rd campaign in Formula 1 – including five running as BMW Sauber and five as Alfa Romeo.
Sauber have been a staple of the pinnacle of motorsport since Peter Sauber put his team on the grid in 1993. But across their 471 race entries ahead of the 2024 Emilia Romagna GP, the team have one win. Robert Kubica won the 2008 Canadian GP with a BMW Sauber one-two.
Andreas Seidl admits Audi needs to ‘significantly’ improve Sauber’s facilities
Race wins have been a distant dream in Hinwil for some time now, as well. Sauber have not finished a season higher than the sixth place they sealed in the constructors’ championship in 2009, 2012 and 2022 since 2008 with third. Sauber were the ninth-best F1 team in 2023.
This season has also started on the wrong foot with Sauber heading to Imola last among the 10 teams. Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas are yet to score a point this term to further rank 18th and 20th. Bottas’ best Grand Prix results are P14 in the Australian GP and Japanese GP.
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So, Seidl – who is the CEO of Sauber and Audi’s F1 project – admits the German automotive giants must make ‘significant’ changes in Hinwil to make the Formula 1 team a front-runner again. Seidl particularly sees Sauber’s in-house production as a key area for Audi to improve.
“We need to update all our technical infrastructure, which means putting a lot of investment into our R&D capabilities here at Hinwil, but also update our production facilities in order to get to the level required to fight the top teams,” Seidl has told Formula 1’s official website.
“We want to significantly ramp up our in-house production capabilities to increase the speed of delivering parts and upgrades to the track and be as efficient as possible under the cost cap at the same time.”
Audi is going all-in on Formula 1 but faces a tricky task
Audi is already hard at work getting its feet under the table in Hinwil ahead of taking Sauber over. The German brand will keep the production of its team’s chassis and race operation in Switzerland. But Audi has also established a base at its Neuberg facility for its F1 power unit.
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As well as Sauber becoming a full works entry, Audi will join the grid under Formula 1’s 2026 engine and chassis regulation changes as a power unit manufacturer. Audi has even already signed Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg to race with Sauber from 2025 on a three-year contract.
But Seidl still has plenty of areas he wants to improve at Hinwil and Neuberg ahead of Audi’s debut in 2026. Audi is going all-in on Formula 1 and will want to be competitive from the off. Yet turning Sauber around from a rear-of-the-field operation could be a tricky task for Audi.
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