Bottas: New CEO Seidl has a clear direction for Sauber in F1

Former McLaren team principal Seidl has replaced Fred Vasseur, who has left to replace Mattia Binotto at Ferrari.

Seidl has come in solely as CEO in order to focus on the bigger picture of all the companies in the Sauber Group as the organisation continues to grow ahead of the planned transition to the full Audi identity in 2026, and as such he won't attend all the races.

Managing director Alessandro Alunni Bravi has taken on the job of team representative on race weekends.

When asked about Seidl joining the team, Bottas said: “It was two weeks ago I met him for the first time.

“First of all, a nice guy, but I can see that he's really motivated. He seems to have pretty clear direction, what to do with the team and how to motivate people. He seems to have the vision.

“Obviously he's still just taking in a lot of information and trying to learn from other people about the team, what's been happening in the past. I'm confident he is a good man for the role.”

The Finn's team-mate Guanyu Zhou indicated that he’s been impressed by Seidl so far.

“I was here quite often the last few weeks, and spent a lot time together with Andreas,” said the Chinese driver.

Bottas: "It is sad to lose Fred. But at the same time, he's also my friend, so I'm really happy for him."

Photo by: Alfa Romeo

“I really felt how much he is really trying to push the team, but still these few weeks, he's just taking his time to understand the whole company, to make sure everything is settled.

“But then I really see he's very eager to bring the team up and to have a great future coming together. Spending dinner or lunch together, I really felt he's a guy that knows quite well the technical side. He also knows well the drivers, because we've been speaking about his past.

“I really feel even though for the team maybe it's a big change for us as a driver it doesn't really change much because we're still trying to do what we could best, It's is more about trying to understand the way both of us are working.

“Of course it's not going to be the same as the way Fred is working, but everyone has their own way which works. And I also heard many great words about him in the past from Oscar [Piastri]. So I’m looking forward to it.”

Bottas admitted he was sad to see Fred Vasseur leave as it was the Frenchman, whose ART team ran Bottas in F3 and GP3, who convinced him to join Alfa.

"It's absolutely correct that Fred was one big reason,” said Bottas when asked by Autosport about Vasseur. “Obviously, it is sad to lose Fred. But at the same time, he's also my friend.

"So I'm really happy for him, because you're not going to say no to that kind of role. He's always been ambitious and he wants to progress, so I completely understand.

"But what makes me less worried is seeing the new structure, I feel like the team is in a pretty stable situation, I think with Andreas and Alessandro we're going to be fine.

"And always when new people come and step to different roles there's always new ways of thinking. So sometimes it's not a bad thing."