Audi’s grand Formula 1 entry in 2026, partnering with Sauber, was one of the highlight announcements of this season, marking the German manufacturer’s first foray into the sport at the highest level.
Motorsport history is filled with Audi accomplishments in just about all forms of racing, from GT through to LMPs, as well as a chequered history in off-road categories from rally through to the Dakar. A company that is used to winning in whatever they get involved in.
Now they face their mightiest test, F1 with Sauber. While much information about the project has been made public from the Audi side during the launch last month, in Mexico recently, Sauber team boss Fred Vasseur shed more light on how the Audi-Sauber partnership will work.
Speaking to reporters on the Saturday of the Mexican Grand Prix weekend, Vasseur explained: “Firstly, we will split completely operations. They will be in charge of the engine in Neuburg and the team will take care of the chassis and the operation on track, from Hinwil, that is clear.
“They will take some shares in the company in the future but we didn’t disclose the details of this and I won’t do it today. So sorry, Dieter. But I think it’s a good way to operate the team that we…
“We had a look on what was working in the past on the other teams and the most important for me is not just the setup in terms of shares or who is managing who, it’s a matter of mindset, and to be able to build up in terms of strategy to be one single team and not to have teams fighting each other.
Vasseur: We won’t have personnel for Audi involved into the team and the chassis operation
“We know that we have three years to build up something,” pointed out the Alfa Romeo team boss. “We know that we have three years to increase the budget and to be at the cost cap, to work with a lot to improve the facilities and so and I think honestly that three years is not too much.
“It’s the perfect trend. And I think it was the good timing also for Audi with the new regulation coming in on the engine side in ‘26 and it was the perfect fit,” added Vasseur.
Sauber afre currently tied up in a branding deal with Alfa Romeo with engines supplied by Ferrari which they began extricating themselves from by not taking a Ferrari pay driver this year, opting instead to hire Valtteri Bottas and gave Chinese rookie Guanyu Zhou his first season in F1.
The question of drivers for 2026 was raised, to which Vasseur replied: “It’s a bit ambitious to speak about drivers for 2026, that we have the Academy, we are trying to develop young ones and so but it will be in the middle because if you are speaking about young kids often in go-kart today, it will be more for 2030 or 2032.”
Fred: We have Valtteri on board and we have Zhou on board
Vasseur continued: “We have Théo [Porchaire] in the pipeline, but we will have time to discuss about this and I’m not sure that you have so many drivers on the grid with contract after 2026.”
As for ditching the Alfa Romeo image, the team boss said: “You have to disassociate the name of the team, which could be the title sponsor, and the name of the company. The name of the company will stay Sauber. The name of the chassis will stay Sauber, but we could have a title sponsor coming in.”
The Switzerland-based team, founded by Peter Sauber, have been in F1 since their debut at the 1993 South African Grand Prix, with ten podiums but no wins in 373 Grands Prix; from 2006 to 2010 they partnered with BMW, for 89 races – winning once with Robert Kubica in Canada, in 2008.
In 2011, after BMW’s departure from F1, Sauber continued with Ferrari customer engines which they use to this day. For 2019, Alfa Romeo became the title sponsor, and by the end of their partnership in Abu Dhabi later this month, they will have competed in 192 races together with no podiums or wins to speak of.