Sauber bolsters F1 management team with senior Mercedes engineer

The Sauber Formula 1 team has hired a senior figure from Mercedes to bolster its management team ahead of Audi's official takeover.

Sauber has poached Stefan Strahnz from Mercedes for the newly created position of programme director, which will see him report directly to team CEO Andreas Seidl.

Strahnz, who left his role at Mercedes at the end of June, will join the Swiss-based team on 1 October this year.

At Mercedes the German occupied various engineering and management roles over this 13-year stint, having been its chief engineer - cost and commercial programmes since December 2020.

He was previously a design office manager at Lotus-Renault and head of reliability at Renault, having started his F1 career with engineering stints at Toyota and BAR-Honda.

Stefan Strähnz, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber Programme Director

Photo by: Sauber

It is that 23-year experience in organisational leadership roles that made Strahnz an attractive hire for Seidl as he gears up for Audi's official works entry in 2026.

“I am delighted to welcome Stefan to the team, and I am sure that he will bring an incredible amount of experience from his previous roles, in which he won multiple races and championships, to further complement and strengthen our leadership team," Seidl said.

"With his unique experience, Stefan will play a vital role in driving the team’s overall effectiveness and prepare us on our journey to full finance regulation optimisation as we become the Audi F1 factory team.

"Working closely with myself, the management team and all our expanding technical, operational and finance departments, Stefan’s main mission is to deliver fully streamlined and optimised F1 car programmes, from concept through to track introduction."

Strahnz added: "I am immensely proud and excited to join the talented people at Sauber Motorsport on our exciting journey to become the Audi F1 factory team in 2026.

"I have experienced a similar journey in my previous roles, and I will be applying all my learnings and energy into this new and challenging programme to develop the required tools, processes and culture for sustainable long-term on- and off-track success."