Sports German company
How vehemently Audi is planning its Formula 1 entry in the background
As of: 2:17 p.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg will move to Sauber in 2025. Audi holds 100 percent of the shares in the racing team
Source: dpa/Hiro Komae
Nico Hülkenberg has already agreed to be a driver, and the German company is well ahead in courting Carlos Sainz. Almost two years before entering Formula 1, Audi was attacked on many levels.
Although Audi won’t be competing in Formula 1 until 2026, the Ingolstadt-based company is already going full throttle. The VW subsidiary, which took over all shares of the Sauber team in March, has long been an integral part of the paddock. The bosses around managing director Andreas Seidl (48) have been setting the course for entry into the premier class of motorsport for months in the background.
The German luxury brand has signed its first driver, Nico Hülkenberg (36). The Emmericher (North Rhine-Westphalia) will move from Haas to Sauber (officially called “Stake Sauber”) in 2025, where he has signed a multi-year contract. The veteran is expected to earn around five million euros per season. At Haas it is only around two million euros per year.
The ideal solution is Carlos Sainz
It is unclear who will be Hülkenberg’s teammate. One thing is clear: Neither the expiring contract of Valtteri Bottas (34) nor that of Zhou Guanyu (24) will be extended. For both drivers, those responsible around Boss Seidl are not convinced that they can live up to Audi’s claim: to establish themselves among the top teams, such as Red Bull and Mercedes, and to compete for world championships.
Hülkenberg is currently in 13th place in the World Championship drivers’ standings
Those: dpa/Darko Bandic
The ideal solution is Carlos Sainz (29). Audi is aggressively courting the Spaniard, who will have to make way for Lewis Hamilton (39) at Ferrari at the end of the year. The first discussions have already taken place, but Sainz wants to wait with his decision because Mercedes and Red Bull are also interested. The Ingolstadt team meets the racing series greats on an equal footing. Especially financially. Red Bull’s motorsport boss Dr. Helmut Marko (81): “We are talking to Sainz. But he has a very lucrative offer from Audi that we cannot match or beat.”
also read
While Audi can keep up financially straight away, the racing team is far from being a top team when it comes to infrastructure. Currently only around 500 people work for the team. For comparison: Mercedes and Red Bull employ around 1,000 people. Managing director Seidl’s goal is 900 employees. The Bavarian wants to maintain the lean structures. His motto: quality instead of quantity.
Changing tires is a problem
The VW subsidiary is also investing in the racing team’s headquarters in Hinwil (Switzerland), a suburb of Zurich. In addition to new software that is necessary for the development of the car, additional production machines will also be purchased for the production of the racing car’s parts.
The bosses are also working on the biggest weakness of recent years: pit stops. No team changes tires as slowly as Sauber. In some cases this takes up to four seconds – an eternity in Formula 1. More modern impact wrenches are supposed to solve this problem.
also read
Measures that allow those responsible to look positively into the future. Audi is also right on schedule with the development of the engine, which is manufactured in the factory in Neuburg an der Donau (Bavaria). The same applies to the car. Although they are tied for last in the constructors’ championship with Williams and Alpine, internally they consider themselves to be stronger than their two competitors. Reason: Both teams have exhausted the budget cap of 128 million euros, while Sauber still has financial scope for further developments. Audi is heading full throttle towards entry into Formula 1.
The history was researched for the Sports Competence Center (WELT, SPORT BILD, BILD) and first published in SPORT BILD.
