How Audi is striving to win in F1 within five years

It’s been 10 months since Mattia Binotto joined Sauber as its Chief Operating and Technical Officer, and it’s now a matter of months until the Swiss Formula 1 team morphs into Audi.

The German brand is taking up the F1 challenge for the very first time, and knows vaulting itself to the front of the grid won’t be easy with a team that hasn’t scored a podium since 2012 – more than 250 grands prix ago.

Given the constraints imposed by the budget cap and aerodynamic testing restrictions, the most obvious decision so far has been to focus the team’s efforts on F1’s new 2026 technical rules, given it was always going to struggle this season.

But this does not mean that 2025 is a complete write-off – as shown by Nico Hulkenberg’s opportunistic seventh-place finish in Australia.

“It must be a year of growth if possible,” Binotto told Autosport. “I don’t think the position in the constructors’ championship matters as much as fighting for points at every race. We need to find consistency in results, and that would be a major leap.”

Laying the foundation, like Todt at Ferrari

Binotto’s timeline for Audi to win is five years – in other words, to be a title contender in 2030.

While certain teams announce such lofty long-term goals over and over again – just look at Alpine’s now-abandoned “100-race project” from 2021, with Flavio Briatore now expecting to fight for the title in 2027 – Sauber has not been so ambitious since its late-2000s BMW era, and Binotto insists this “shared objective with Audi” makes sense.

The plan does have the merit of giving the team enough time to lay the necessary foundation. The Italian wants to take a leaf out of Ferrari’s book, having been part of the Maranello-based squad when it won five consecutive drivers’ championships in the early 2000s – and even six constructors’ crowns – under Jean Todt’s leadership, after more than 15 seasons without title success.

“If we look into the past, I was at Ferrari and I had a fantastic era with Michael [Schumacher], but all teams need a period to build themselves: Jean Todt arrived in Maranello in 1993 to win only in 2000, and I don’t think he’s the only example to lay solid foundations,” Binotto insisted.

“Just look at McLaren’s recovery, which wasn’t fast. It takes time to act on the infrastructure, on the tools, on the people, on the organisation and also on the culture.

“Audi is set to implement its German culture on a Swiss team that has its own personality, and adds an important niche of foreigners. Blending them together will not be straightforward.

“When one speaks of culture, one refers to behaviours, to team spirit; it should not be surprising if it takes time. It will take three years to build, and two to consolidate.”

Staff and infrastructure now key – in three different countries

Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Building and consolidating the team will be based on two obvious pillars, which are more intertwined than ever – staff and infrastructure.

The former has always been a problem for the Hinwil-based squad, with many skilled F1 engineers reluctant to upend their lives – and, for many, uproot their families – by moving to Switzerland.

Binotto is very much aware that this is an issue. “When you try to hire in England, you discover that it is never the right time, because the children are still at school, because the wife has a job, because there is still a house to sell,” he said.

Still, when asked why people don’t want to move to the country, he retorted: “Who told you that? I think we will surprise you. No, I don’t agree.

“I like Switzerland, you know that. I think it is a good place to work, with a high quality of life, and also the family context is positive, because there is a high level of security. I think this could become our competitive advantage.

“Of course, in order to attract people, you must first give credibility to your project. A name is not enough, Audi is not enough; concrete actions are also needed, which we are implementing.

Inaki Rueda, Sporting Director of Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber and Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal of Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

“An example is the arrival of [team principal] Jonathan Wheatley [from Red Bull] and some sponsors that we will announce; another is the investment that was made by the Qatar fund that guarantees the necessary money. We started with a new pair of drivers, with a young guy like Gabriel [Bortoleto]. And we will soon be hiring.

“I am convinced that if we meet again in a year, the question will be different: ‘How did you manage to attract so many people?’”

A key step is the team’s upcoming Sauber Centre of Technology UK, aimed at attracting the best talent from the English ‘motorsport valley’. It will work directly with the Hinwil (chassis) and Neuburg (engine) facilities, with the latter located in Germany.

Binotto expects the new engineering hub to open “in the next few weeks”, to incorporate “about 20 people” for the time being, and to “become an entry point for Hinwil” for staff that may be reluctant to move to Switzerland from the get-go.

Meanwhile, back in Hinwil, Audi has a great deal of work to do in order to modernise its facilities – with a new simulator also required.

“We work on many fronts, there is not a single one, and they must proceed in parallel,” Binotto said. “We need to expand, so we are thinking of constructing new buildings; then we need more people, and we need to increase our internal manufacturing capacity. Anyone who knows Hinwil knows that expanding the current site is not easy, so we will have to go a little outside the current perimeter.”

When one considers that Audi needs to achieve all of this while being the first engine manufacturer to join F1 since Honda’s struggle a decade ago – an area the brand expects not to be on top of initially – the whole challenge is a mammoth one. But Binotto is adamant: Audi will have what it takes.