Former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto will take over as head of Audi’s F1 program after the German announced the surprise dismissal of team chief executive Andreas Seidl.
Binotto will join the team, which ultimately operates under the Sauber name, as lead operating director and chief technical officer from August 1, just 17 months before it officially becomes Audi’s factory manufacturer in 2026.
The 54-year-old Switzerland-born Italian was ejected from Ferrari at the end of his failed 2022 championship challenge. He worked in Maranello for 27 years in technical positions before taking charge of the team in 2019.
“I am very happy to have hired Mattia Binotto for our ambitious Formula 1 project,” said Gernot Döllner, CEO of Audi. “With his extensive experience of more than 25 years in Formula 1, he will undoubtedly make a great decisive contribution to Audi. “
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Binotto’s signing is “part of the realignment of the command layout of Audi’s future factory team,” according to a report from the automaker, adding to the surprise dismissal of former McLaren boss and top recruit Andreas Seidl.
Seidl left McLaren to become Sauber CEO last January, just 19 months ago, with a project to prepare the veteran Swiss winger for the Audi factory team.
In March of this year, he took over as general director of the Audi F1 project, becoming director of the future team.
But now, five months later, he has been fired from his workplace and unceremoniously.
“Our goal is to bring the entire Formula 1 mandate to the point of F1 through transparent control structures, explained responsibilities, reduced interfaces and effective decision-making processes,” said Döllner. “To do this, the team will have to be able to act independently and quickly. “
Oliver Hoffmann, the former head of progression at Audi who has become the brand’s representative within the F1 project, was also excluded from the team.
“I would like to thank Oliver and Andreas for their work in building our access to Formula 1 and their commitment to its preparation,” concluded Döllner.
The surprise announcement will do little to alleviate the sense of quiet crisis surrounding the Audi project, with the Sauber in steep decline and the brand’s engine program plagued by rumors of poor performance.
According to the BBC, Seidl has been frustrated by what he believed was a delay in Audi’s full commitment to its F1 project, hampering his ability to rebuild the Sauber team and crippled its chances of attracting drivers and technical talent. Formation
Although he was able to sign Nico Hülkenberg from Haas on a long-term contract from next year, his assignment to pair him with a star driver for the Audi assignment has so far failed. been fulfilled.
Carlos Sainz has long been a suspect target, however the Spaniard is expected to rank Alpine and Williams above Audi given their limited short-term chances of success.
James Key signed on as the team’s technical director last June, just three months after McLaren sacked the English designer as part of a technical restructuring initiated by Andrea Stella, who replaced Seidl earlier this year as team principal in Woking.
Since then, McLaren has moved from the back of the grid to contention for the championship.
Audi’s selection to take over Sauber appeared to give it a decent platform to build on when the deal was struck in mid-2022, with the Swiss team enjoying improved functionality in the first year of the new regulations and fighting for sixth position. in the championship ranking.
But since then, the team has been on a downward spiral. He finished ninth with just 16 problems last year, and lately he is anchored to the bottom of the standings by one point. His car, the C44, is comfortably the slowest on the grid. .
Although Audi first said it expects to compete for wins until 2028, few sports professionals will be able to achieve it given its weak starting base with Sauber.
Audi will build its own power unit by 2026 at its Neuburg plant in Bavaria.
The program has been hampered by assumptions about delays and missed functionality goals, even though the team said in a press release last month that it had achieved “important milestones and objectives” in development.
ALPINE CONSIDERS ABANDONING ENGINE WORK
Audi isn’t the only top factory team on the eight-ball heading into 2026.
Alpine will reportedly abandon its bespoke Renault powertrains in favor of a deal with Mercedes, which would be a notable abandonment of a highly sought-after factory status.
According to Autosport, Alpine could be just a guest for Mercedes engines, gearboxes and suspension parts from next year, before the regulatory update in 2026.
The Renault-owned team had long been rumoured to shut down its F1 powertrain programme in the Paris suburb of Viry-Châtillon, given the significant prices associated with engine progression and the company’s track record of poor performance. The logo in the turbo-hybrid era. Formation
Although the engine regulations are expected to be replaced in 2026, the new powertrain is strongly tied to the existing design.
Although Alpine has remained silent on the matter, speculation has increased especially in the last month, with the appointment of former team boss Flavio Briatore to an executive-level advisory role above the position of current team principal Bruno Famin.
Most recently, Audi announced a technical partnership with BP and its Castrol logo for fuels and lubricants. BP and Castrol lately those of Alpine.
Alpine would well upgrade Aston Martin into the Mercedes away team, with the Silverstone team in Honda’s factory team from 2026.
Speaking at the British Grand Prix earlier this month, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said he was open to a deal after admitting to having had “exploratory discussions” with Alpine controlArray.
“We like the concept of replacing Aston Martin with a team because of the learning curve involved,” he said. “I think we are organized as an organization in such a way that the more forces there are, the greater it will be in terms of accelerating safe advances or reliability.
“I don’t think it went beyond an exchange of opinions or a discussion to take notes.
“Will they continue with their Formula 1 engine program or not? Only when they have made this strategic resolution will we be able to take a look at our agreements.
“We are open-minded and that is what we do. »
A move to Mercedes could have a knock-on effect on the driver market, with Mercedes seen as a factor in Carlos Sainz’s decision to devote himself to Alpine from next season.
Sainz has the lion’s share of the driver market, with Audi/Sauber, Williams and Alpine hoping to secure his signature, but the Spaniard does not yet know which team he believes has the most productive medium-term prospects.
A transition to the Mercedes engine next year would provide a quick boost to the Alpine’s functionality. Alpine itself claimed that its Renault powertrain was 22 kilowatts less than its competitors, at a time when powertrain functionality is supposedly frozen at par.
Committing to Alpine in those cases may also give Sainz a direct line to the Mercedes factory team if he lands a seat down the road.
Autosport also said a decision had not yet been made on introducing a review of operations at Viry-Châtillon in a bid to ensure staff working on Renault’s F1 programme can be deployed to other projects to fix losses.