No One Doubts Audi’s F1 Commitment Now – Binotto

Mattia Binotto seems prepared to see the neon green and black Sauber cars once again at the very rear of the Formula 1 grid in 2025.

This season is the last one before the now fully Audi-owned, Swiss-based team completes its transition to become the works Audi outfit from 2026 and beyond.

“We are at the beginning of the journey to transform Sauber into the Audi Formula 1 team and ultimately into a top team,” the Italian, who returned to F1 last year after losing his role as Ferrari team principal in 2022, said.

Binotto is overseeing the Sauber-to-Audi transition, as he tells Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport that the goal is to “fight for the world championship in 2030”.

“We have five seasons ahead of us until then,” he explained. “Of these five years, the first three will be used to build the team and the next two to consolidate and fine-tune so that we can achieve our goals.

“You cannot achieve this transformation in one season or a few months. Where are we? The team is not yet where we want to be. Neither in terms of manpower nor tools. But we see the necessary growth.”

The target for 2025, therefore, is simply to take more steps on the road to the future – for example, by adding another 200 people to the staff roster and working on setting up the new UK-based secondary facility.

Results this year, Binotto admits, are not too important.

“We are in a different situation to the others,” he said. “We have to improve as a team. Our project has to be credible and attractive. This makes it all the easier for us to attract people and sponsors and motivate the existing team.”

So in terms of the actual 2025 car, all Binotto wants is a demonstration “that we have learned and understood” the lessons of the previous season.

“We cannot wait until 2026 to prove this,” said Binotto, “so for me, 2025 is an important season.

“We are hoping for a good start to the season, which will then allow us to focus on 2026 as early as possible. There might be more than one upgrade, but there will not be many.”

Binotto also admits to hoping that the old perception that Audi and Volkswagen may be regretting the decision to enter Formula 1 disappears in 2025.

“Audi is fully behind it and I don’t think anyone doubts that anymore,” he said. “The fact that Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is involved in the project was an important message. It also sends the message internally that this is a long-term commitment from Audi.”

For 2026, Audi intends to only supply its own works team with engines, but Binotto says it will at least be important to follow the lead of rival teams by forming political alliances within pitlane.

“That’s a good point,” he said. “There are a few teams that are not in any alliance. It would be good if those teams formed one.”