Audi has reinforced its commitment to entering Formula 1 as a constructor in 2026 by announcing it will complete a full takeover of the Sauber team.
Following speculation elsewhere over its plans to enter the series, Audi also confirmed new details of the management team who will lead its move into grand prix racing.The manufacturer said it has concluded negotiations with current Sauber owner Islero Investments to purchase 100% of the shares in the company. The Sauber team currently competes in F1 under the name Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber.
It is due to become the Audi F1 Team in 2026. Oliver Hoffmann, who leads the manufacturer’s technical division, will become chairman of the board for the Sauber Group once Audi completes its takeover. As a result he will step down from Audi’s board.
Andreas Seidl has been named Audi F1 Team CEO. He joined the project from McLaren at the beginning of 2023.
Hoffmann, who called motorsport his “big passion”, said Audi’s a takeover of Sauber will ensure they are fully ready to compete in F1 when they arrive in two years’ time.
“I am convinced that by bundling responsibilities and taking over 100 percent of Sauber Group, we will further accelerate our preparations for the launch in 2026,” he said.
“I am pleased we were able to secure the services of Andreas Seidl as Audi F1 Team CEO. He is exactly the right man for our ambitious plan. Thanks to his broad experience from leadership roles on the manufacturer and Formula 1 team side, he will make a significant contribution to Audi’s Formula 1 project.”
Seidl said the team now has “a clear roadmap for how we want to become competitive in Hinwil as well as in Neuburg.
“We have ambitious goals. Realisation of them is in progress and will be further accelerated through the complete takeover of Sauber by Audi AG.”
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DaveW (@dmw)
8th March 2024, 16:18
They signed George Russell apparently.
mantresx (@mantresx)
8th March 2024, 16:33
Does this mean no more CXX chassis number? :(
Martin (@f1hornet)
8th March 2024, 16:52
I do think it’s a shame that Audi are just buying a team who have been in top level motorsport since the 80s, rather than building their own team or partnering with a team. I guess that’s always what was going to happen now F1 has shifted to a franchise model effectively.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
8th March 2024, 17:02
Remember BMW also bought Sauber outright.
It’s the logical way to enter F1, using something that’s already established, up and running and it’s not new. Mercedes did it, so did Honda, and the many iterations of Renault after their original team of the 70s. In recent-ish times only Toyota, as a big manufacturer, wanted to do it on their own and we know how that worked… if you’re going to put the face of a whole company at risk, you better do things right and Sauber is a very good base.
Martin (@f1hornet)
8th March 2024, 17:26
I don’t think they bought 100% though, Peter Sauber kept a minority stake.
anon
8th March 2024, 21:14
@fer-no65 as noted by Martin, BMW did not buy all of the shares in the Sauber team.
An oddity of the Sauber team is that, for much of it’s existence, Peter Sauber did not actually own the team. When Peter Sauber first entered Formula 1, Dietrich Mateschitz owned 51% of the shares in the team, Peter Sauber owned 24.5% and Fritz Kaiser the remaining 24.5%.
When Fritz Kaiser left the team, his shares were then split between Mateschitz and Peter Sauber, leaving the former with 63.25% of the team and Peter the remaining 36.75%. However, Mateschitz later ended up leaving the team after arguing with Peter Sauber about driver choices; Mateschitz sold those shares back to Sauber, but Peter then immediately sold off those shares to Credit Suisse.
When BMW entered the picture, they bought out Credit Suisse’s share of the team and bought part of Peter Sauber’s stake, giving them 80% of the team (Peter held the remaining 20%). I think that they did not buy any further shares during their time at the team, so although they had a controlling stake, they did not outright own the team.
It means that Peter Sauber only owned the majority of the team for the period from 2009 to 2016, when he owned 66.6% of the team (Kaltenborn owned the remaining shares).
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
8th March 2024, 18:36
Peter Sauber is 80 years old. He’s not running any F1 team t this point.
Red Pill (@redpill)
8th March 2024, 17:00
Andreas Seidl just scored. Think about were he was just four years ago and now he just scored a major corporate job position as a CEO of a billion dollar division of Audi’s Automotive corporate entity. Which is a little different than just being the team principal.
AlanD
8th March 2024, 21:56
People poked fun at the luminous green livery of the Saubers, but having seen it on TV in the real environment, I new think it is not nearly as garish as I’d imagined, looks good, and easy to pick them out.
dot_com (@dot_com)
8th March 2024, 22:03
It looks good under the lights, not so sure about under natural lighting.
Jungle
8th March 2024, 23:41
I think it looks great too Alan!