How Ferrari's new boss paved the way for Audi's F1 arrival

It’s all change at Sauber as ex-McLaren Formula 1 chief Andreas Seidl starts his new job as overall boss of the Swiss organisation. Seidl has taken on Ferrari-bound Fred Vasseur’s CEO title and will oversee the big picture and the long-term strategy of the group, including its technology business, as it builds towards its full collaboration with Audi in 2026. A new team principal will be hired to take on the rest of Vasseur’s erstwhile responsibilities, and oversee the day-to-day running of the race operation.

For Seidl the move represents a homecoming of sorts – he spent four years in Hinwil with what was then BMW’s works F1 team. And he’s not the only key player with BMW connections. Audi motorsport CEO Adam Baker was also involved back in the day, latterly as head of race and testing on the engine side. Then there’s Guido Stalmann, director of partnerships, communication and business affairs for the Audi F1 programme, who had a similar role in the BMW era.

It’s surely no coincidence that, like BMW almost two decades ago, Audi looked at a cooperation with a UK-based team, before deciding to go somewhat closer to home. Just as Frank Williams and Patrick Head didn’t want to sell a stake in their team to then engine partner BMW, so a McLaren/Audi deal was made untenable by the complex ownership structure of the Woking company, and the shareholders’ reluctance to give up control.

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Sauber ultimately made sense as an organisation with no strings attached, and which, for the right price, was potentially for sale. And, as with BMW, a shared German language and a location just a few hours by road from the manufacturer’s powertrain base at Neuburg in Bavaria contributed to the final decision.

But repeating the BMW strategy was not a given, and Sauber would not have been such a clear choice five or six years ago. The key is the underlying strength and potential that the organisation can now demonstrate – and that’s in large part due to the work done by Vasseur.

He may be gone, but the Frenchman is a big part of the Audi/Sauber story. He was the man who new owner Finn Rausing turned to after acquiring the ailing team in late 2016, when it was 10th in the world championship. It was on its knees thanks to downsizing and a lack of investment, but Rausing could see the potential.

On Vasseur’s watch there was a steady improvement, from five points scored in 2017 to 48 in 2018, the year he helped to attract backing from Alfa Romeo. He then got Kimi Raikkonen on board for 2019, when Sauber’s entry took on the name of the Italian manufacturer. Progress stalled for a couple of seasons but in 2022, with multiple race winner Valtteri Bottas replacing Raikkonen, the team finished sixth, its best position for a decade.

Sixth place finish in the 2022 constructors' championship was the best result for Sauber operation since 2012

Photo by: Alfa Romeo

Vasseur should take a lot of credit for putting the pieces in place that made the team such an attractive proposition to Audi, and he played a key role in convincing the manufacturer to choose Sauber as its works partner over any alternative options.

“Honestly, I didn’t care about the others during the discussion, if they had other discussions,” Vasseur told Autosport shortly before his departure for Ferrari was announced. “We were focused on what could be the project, what could be the advantage for Sauber, what could be the set-up for Audi. And I was not thinking about what some of my colleagues could offer. That would have been a mistake to take this kind of approach.

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“I think that the basis is very strong, and I think the situation is a good one as an F1 team with the facilities and so on. We had to just be focused on this, and not be focused on what the others could do.”

So what was Sauber’s sales pitch to Audi’s bosses?

"On our side it was crystal clear for me that to stay independent in F1 is quite impossible, or it will be impossible in the near future. And we had to find a way to continue to develop the team" Fred Vasseur

“First, it was not a sales pitch,” Vasseur insisted. “It was more a discussion about where we could learn together, and if it makes sense to collaborate together. It’s not someone that is selling something to someone else.

“It’s a project, it has to be a common project, and the target was more to discuss to know if we could reach a common view on different topics. And it’s true that the fact that we’re not far away from them, that the facility is a good one, that the team is growing up, it made absolutely sense for them. On our side it was crystal clear for me that to stay independent in F1 is quite impossible, or it will be impossible in the near future. And we had to find a way to continue to develop the team.”

It’s hard not to see the similarities with the choice made by BMW after it was rebuffed when it tried to buy in to Williams, and looked elsewhere for a works partner that it could own. But Vasseur downplayed the historical significance.

Vasseur played a vital role in convincing Audi to partner with the Sauber outfit behind Alfa Romeo prior to his Ferrari switch

Photo by: Antonin Vincent / DPPI

“The world is completely different, the project is different, we don’t have so many people who were there then. There is not a model type in F1.

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“I paid attention to what is working, what is not working. And if you have a look at Red Bull, with the engine made in Japan it was not the easiest one. And they are world champions. Then you have Ferrari with everybody under the same roof. You have Renault with one foot in the UK and one in France. And I think it’s not for me a matter of geography, it’s much more than the set-up of the team, to be sure that everybody is aligned on the target.”

Audi had the option to start its own in-house team, as Toyota did, rather than buy into an existing operation. In the end the latter option made more sense, and the challenge now is to allow Hinwil to remain flexible and fast reacting, and not mired in corporate red tape.

“It was part of the discussion, what could be the good structure of the team?” said Vasseur. “It’s always good to have the support from a big OEM at every single topic. But you have also to keep the agility of a racing team. If you are an OEM in F1, it won’t work. But everybody knows this.

“The most important thing in this kind of collaboration, and the structure of the team, is that the guys of the chassis, they have to be focused on the chassis, the guys on the engine, they have to be focused on the engine. If you start to complain when you are in charge of the chassis about the engine and vice versa, you know that it’s the end of the story. I trust them. They will do a good job.”

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Sauber now faces three years of transition, the first as Alfa Romeo, the second and third likely under its own name, albeit still with Ferrari power. On top of any fresh investment from Audi, the team will be in a stronger position this year, with extra prize-fund money due to its sixth place in 2022, and a major new sponsor coming onboard. The financial boost will allow the team to push up to the cost-cap limit and to continue the building process, in terms of facilities and recruitment.

The latter has often been a challenge, since Sauber has traditionally found it hard to attract top engineering talent from the UK. Relocating to Switzerland to work for a team that is generally near the back doesn’t appeal to everyone, but the prospect of being part of the Audi project is a lot more interesting.

Will Audi's involvement make Sauber a more attractive team to work for?

Photo by: Audi Communications Motorsport

“We can already see the difference when you are advertising positions, or looking for sponsors,” said Vasseur. “It’s much easier, because they know that we are already committing until 2030, and it was not the case two or three years ago. The perception of the team from an external point of view is completely different.”

Since Vasseur’s insights, he has walked away from the chance to move Sauber to the next level to take on a completely different challenge with Ferrari, and it’s obvious that Maranello has been impressed by what he’s done in Hinwil. The job of Seidl and the new team principal will be to pick up where their predecessor left off.

"The best way to prepare for 2026 is to be competitive in 2023, 2024 and 2025, doesn’t matter the engine. We have to improve, and what is true for the Audi project in 2026 is true for next year" Fred Vasseur

Seidl will bring fresh ideas and new thinking, and all the knowledge he gained from his spell at McLaren, but he can thank Vasseur for providing such a solid starting point for the Audi project, and whose philosophy still rings true.

“I think it would be a huge mistake to postpone the target, and focus on three years’ time, and to be relaxed next year,” he said of the upcoming transition seasons. “The best way to prepare for 2026 is to be competitive in 2023, 2024 and 2025, doesn’t matter the engine. We have to improve, and what is true for the Audi project in 2026 is true for next year in terms of production, in terms of development, and so on.”

Vasseur was clear that Sauber must keep up its rate of improvement to be on a solid footing for its formal transition into Audi for 2026

Photo by: Alfa Romeo

When tunnel vision is a good thing

Located opposite a shopping centre and next to a busy road that connects the towns of Hinwil and Wetzikon, Sauber’s base is very different to campus sites such as those at Mercedes, McLaren and Alpine, or the new Aston Martin facility.

There is no imposing fence or gatehouse manned by security guards – you simply show up at reception. Team members park their cars adjacent to the employees of surrounding businesses, which include a slaughterhouse.

Sauber has been here since the team’s early days in sportscar racing in the 1980s, and it has expanded over the decades, largely as a result of BMW’s investment. The main factory is functional and fit for purpose, and just large enough for a modern team tailored to the cost-cap era. Close by sits a smaller building that houses the simulator, something the team lacked in the difficult post-BMW years. Introduced in 2020, it reflects the substantial investment that has been made since Finn Rausing took ownership. It shares the facility with the new Sauber Esports Arena and the Sauber Technologies business.

Then there’s the windtunnel, famously built by Peter Sauber with the funds raised by selling Kimi Raikkonen to McLaren at the end of 2001, and a key asset in the sale to Audi. Now two decades old, it is still an impressive looking edifice that also incorporates a large event space that can be used by sponsors. Audi knows the tunnel well, having rented it for its LMP1 and DTM programmes.

When built, it was regarded as the best in the sport. But teams have to invest to stay current, and it lost ground to rivals during Sauber’s years of financial restraint. The challenge now is to keep it up to date, especially with McLaren and Aston Martin building new facilities.

“It’s a very good tunnel,” says Sauber aero chief Alessandro Cinelli. “Of course, through the years you’ve got to keep it alive and maintain it. What we’re going through at the moment is refurbishing a lot of the systems, such that we can guarantee that it’s functioning all the time, and we don’t lose any downtime.

“We also have a programme in place to update all the technology that’s inside that we’re using for testing. Everyone’s moved on, and we need to catch up. The disadvantage is that you’re behind, you have to catch up. But the advantage when you do something later is that when you do catch up, you can also actually try and make a step forward.

“This tunnel was born very sound, the air quality and the correlation from windtunnel to track is very, very good. But there’s always continuous improvements that we’re doing.”

Sauber continues to invest in the Hinwil windtunnel that it built with funds earned from McLaren buying out Raikkonen's contract for 2002

Photo by: Sauber