According to Nelson Valkenburg, Audi has completely misjudged its entry into Formula 1 through Sauber. He claims that the top brass don’t understand the sport.
Sauber. For the optimistic fans, the team that will be known as Audi from 2026 onwards is a sleeping giant. An organization brimming with ambition and, as a factory team, also limitless possibilities. But for me, the whole Sauber-Audi project is no longer a sleeping giant. This is a team that is in a coma and fails to wake up.
In hindsight, the first signs were so clear. When Audi announced with great fanfare in 2022 that it was going to take over Sauber and start under its own flag in 2026, it dared to talk about success. Audi is going to, no, must win! The fact that this has to be done with one of the worst teams on the grid and a lack of recent experience at the parent company, nobody talks about that.
But 2.5 years later, no one within the paddock believes in that ambition anymore. The car is the slowest on the field and for the time being, it will stay that way: a huge problem. But that’s not the worst of it. The bigger problem is that no one within this team trusts each other.
Under the leadership of Andreas Seidel, the trouble behind the scenes began. Political intrigue and top people who are not on speaking terms with each other was just the tip of the iceberg. It resulted in a loss of face when Carlos Sainz chose Williams over an Audi factory deal. That’s a PR department’s worst nightmare. And so Audi had had enough and the Germans took more control this year. Andreas Seidel had to go and Mattia Binotto came in with the task of getting the project back on track, while Audi also managed to lure Jonathan Wheatley from Red Bull. They have to keep this sinking ship afloat. And it is sinking, very slowly but surely.
‘No One Trusts Each Other at Sauber’
Having only two top executives won’t be enough to turn things around. To be frank, the car is utterly terrible. And under the current technical management, I see little improvement. Designer James Key is simply unable to keep up with the midfield competition with his team and the resources at hand. Everything that is thrown at this car doesn’t work. And this is the technical group that is supposed to build a car with which Audi can win?
Then there’s the saga surrounding the drivers. Nico Hülkenberg was contracted early by Audi, without the rest of the Sauber team being aware. It shattered the little confidence that Zhou Guanyu had in himself, and Valtteri Bottas no longer trusts Audi. No wonder Sainz declined the offer.
All energy has been drained at Sauber. A small group of people remotely led by a boardroom that doesn’t understand the game. They want to buy success by making a few big moves and don’t understand that the rest of Sauber’s chessboard is in a terrible state, heading for a historic defeat. With the financial problems of the parent company in mind, I fear that the brand will quickly exit the sport and that Audi will join Toyota as an example of a boardroom of a huge brand that doesn’t understand this sport.
In the past, it was ‘Vorsprung durch Technik.’ This is how Audi dominated at Le Mans. Now it’s ‘Ambition ohne Plan.’ And that won’t work in this sport. If Audi fails, it’s not just bad for Audi and Sauber. It’s also bad for Formula 1.
