From no-hopers to F1 podium in 12 months: What’s changed at Sauber?

After the conclusion of his hopeless and point-less 2024 campaign, Valtteri Bottas waved the white flag on his Sauber move. “It was a mistake. Everything started off well in the first year, but since then it was downhill,” The Finn said. “There was a clear plan for targets for the three years, and also how to get there. But those plans and targets went into the bin when Fred Vasseur left.”

Vasseur left at the end of 2022 to move to Ferrari, replaced by McLaren’s Andrea Seidl. After a strong 2022 the then-called Alfa Romeo squad already started slipping back in 2023, but its nadir would follow in 2024 when Sauber finished on four points.

Only a surprise eighth place for Zhou Guanyu prevented Sauber from suffering the ignominy of failing to record a single top-10 finish in 24 races, with accusations levelled at the team’s previous management of sacrificing 2024 and 2025 completely for the benefit of starting 2026 on the right foot under the Audi brand, hurting team morale in the process.

It’s safe to say that while work is still moving at pace to transform into the Audi works team, writing off the short term was a mistake. And while it would be an exaggeration to say Sauber was completely nowhere, not keeping up with a tight midfield arms race meant just a few tenths of a second relegated it to the rear of the grid, scrambling to make it out of Q1 versus fighting for Q3.

Amid various behind-the-scenes changes at management level within Audi, Vasseur’s predecessor at Ferrari Mattia Binotto took the reigns as overarching CEO last August, with former Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley later taking the leap to become team principal for the first time in his storied F1 career.

One of Binotto’s first agenda points was to shore up short-term performance and use it as a stepping stone to develop the entire organisation rather than seemingly treat it as two different projects. After all, while Audi is heavily recruiting and investing, the team and the tools responsible for both for the short- and long-term prospects will still be largely the same.

At the start of this year Sauber was edging closer but still finding itself at the wrong end of the midfield as the season got under way with the new C45. An unexpected six points for Nico Hulkenberg in Melbourne’s weather-affected opening race was a welcome bonus but not representative, as even weekends outside the points followed.

For Wheatley, the biggest way of improving morale was for the team to prove to itself that it could overcome correlation issues to put actual performance on the car, and those upgrades duly arrived in Barcelona with a new floor, sidepods and front wing. Further refinements arrived at Silverstone.

The Spain upgrade package hit the mark, and those few tenths allowed it to be in the mix again. Sauber has since scored on four consecutive weekends, outscored Red Bull in that period, and moved from last to sixth, now starting to challenge a stagnant Williams for fifth.

Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images via Getty Images

What has also transformed is the team’s morale, with its trackside team now having a clear spring in its step. Hulkenberg’s podium in Britain gave Hinwil a further boost, even if the weather again played a helping hand.

“We talked about how important momentum is in a team. And so really, for me, what I take from today is people start believing in us,” Wheatley said. “I can say the words. I can say we’re gaining momentum. I can say we’re putting performance on the car. I can say all the hard work Mattia’s been putting in before I came here is coming to light. But it’s true.”

The new-look C45 also made Hulkenberg and especially rookie Gabriel Bortoleto more comfortable behind the wheel, which helped consistency, especially over one lap when drivers have to lean on their cars so hard.

“I think we’ve all seen a confidence in both drivers with the car since Barcelona,” Wheatley added. “And I think that’s it. It was very peaky before. You probably noticed it was difficult for the drivers to consistently improve in qualifying, which was one of our big problems. I can remember in Jeddah, even on the brakes into Turn 1, both drivers had problems getting that right. Now, we don’t even talk about it.”

Taking Hulkenberg’s shock Silverstone podium out of the equation, it would be unrealistic for the outside world to take the Swiss team’s recent scoring run as the new baseline. The grid is still tighter than ever, and Sauber’s progress has also been boosted by Williams going through a difficult spell and Racing Bulls struggling for consistency. More fluctuations are inevitable.

Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls Team

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

But as Williams has turned off the tap of 2025 development early to fully focus on 2026, suddenly the margin it built up over the first eight races of the season doesn’t feel so cushy. Sauber is now just 18 points behind, with Racing Bulls and Aston Martin another five points in arrears. The fight for fifth is on.

“We’re just going to take it a race at a time,” Wheatley said about the constructors’ table. “We’re enjoying our race. We put more performance on the car again this weekend. Let’s see what Spa holds for us.

“We’ve got a very long journey towards where we need to be as a team. And it’s a great stepping stone on that journey.”