Sauber hits nadir ahead of Audi relaunch: 'We're at the bottom'

The wider significance is that in around 18 months’ time the team will hit the track under the Audi name for the first time – and it will have to make massive progress by then in all areas.

In 2022, the year that the Audi sale was finalised, Bottas and Zhou scored 55 points, and the team finished sixth in the World Championship.

Last season, the final one under the Alfa Romeo name and the first without Fred Vasseur in charge, the same pairing logged 16 points, and the team slipped to ninth.

This year after 15 races the team lies last in the World Championship table, having failed to score a single point thus far.

The trend is the opposite to what one would have expected given that Audi is investing in and restructuring Hinwil, and that its own folk have been in charge of the process of putting the pieces into place.

Inevitably the focus is on 2026 and the first full Audi car and PU package. However, results on track – even in these interim years with Ferrari power – are the ultimate proof that it is all going in the right direction.

The Bavarian marque can’t afford to let just things tick over before it puts its logos on the cars.

Fortunately, Audi has already seen the writing on the wall. A few weeks ago it fired Sauber CEO Andreas Seidl and chairman Oliver Hoffman amid stories that the pair had different ideas on how to run the operation.

The word is that things weren’t working under Seidl’s leadership. It’s easy for cynics to point to the steps made by McLaren since he left, which is a little unfair, given that he played a big role in putting together the building blocks.

“Mattia Binotto is the best person that we can have to fix our weaknesses” Alessandro Alunni Bravi

Mattia Binotto, the man Vasseur replaced at Ferrari, was announced as COO and CTO, starting this month. Significantly he was not named as team principal.

The reason why became clear when Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley was announced in the role, although he won’t be able to start until some point in 2025 – which will be very late in terms of getting things on track for the Audi era.

Wheatley is an inspired hire, and it’s intriguing that a time when most teams are placing engineers in the top job Audi has gone for a guy who has worked his way up via the mechanic, chief mechanic and team manager route, at Benetton and latterly Red Bull. He’s a good organiser and is much-liked inside and outside the team, traits that are vital in the job that he holds at RBR.

The challenge is that time lag before his arrival, and also the fact that he’ll have to understand and be accepted by a team that is still compromised largely of Swiss Germans, many of whom have been there for a while and may be reluctant to embrace change.

Binotto in contrast has already started and given that he has Swiss roots will be able to get off to something of a running start.

He’s scheduled to make his first appearance in Sauber gear at Monza this weekend, where just two years ago with Ferrari he saw Charles Leclerc take pole and finish a close second. He could be in for a rude awakening this weekend.

“We need to give him the right time to address all the situations,” said Alunni Bravi. “He has such huge knowledge and understanding, and of course, it will be crucial, all the work that he is going to do, both at the factory and then also trackside.

“We need time at this moment, but also we have to stay calm. Mattia is the very best person that we can have to fix our weaknesses, and to plan the correct steps for the future.”

One of Binotto’s key roles in the coming weeks will be to confirm the second driver for 2025 and into the Audi era.

Nico Hülkenberg was hired back in April by his former Porsche WEC boss Seidl. He’s a perfect fit given his nationality and experience, and the fact that at 37, he is still hungry.

Both Seidl and (briefly) Binotto had their hearts set on Carlos Sainz for the other seat, but the Spaniard’s decision to turn down a highly-paid job with a big manufacturer to go to Williams speaks volumes about how the Audi project is viewed up and down the paddock.

The obvious candidate is Bottas, and with Williams now full, the Finn isn’t going anywhere else. He has had a relatively low profile of late, but he’s still a 10-time Grand Prix winner who also logged 20 poles and on his day could go toe-to-toe with Lewis Hamilton.

In the right environment – which seemingly wasn’t the case for him when Seidl was in charge – he could get back to that level. Binotto certainly rates him from those Mercedes days, which can’t hurt.

The alternative path is for Audi to take a young driver. Seidl wanted Liam Lawson, but the Kiwi looks set to remain part of the Red Bull family, potentially replacing Daniel Ricciardo at RB.

Indeed the challenge that Sauber faces is that most of the highly-rated youngsters are tied up elsewhere, such as McLaren’s Gabriel Bortoleto, although Estonian F2 ace Paul Aron is a notable exception.

Sauber also has its own F2 star in Zane Maloney – currently lying fourth in the points – while longtime protégé Theo Pourchaire could be called back from IndyCar duty. It remains to be seen whether either man ticks enough boxes for Binotto and Audi.

“Of course, Mattia wants to assess all the options on the table,” says Alunni Bravi. “And remember the discussion that were held by Andreas. He is evaluating all the options, starting from Valtteri.

“We want to take the right decision, not just for 2025, but also for the future. I think that now the priority is to analyse all the elements, and for him also to speak directly with the potential candidates and to get to know them.

“I think that we will have time to take the decision. We know that it’s an important one, so we don’t want to rush.”

Alunni Bravi downplays the fact that so many youngsters are committed elsewhere.

“It is not a matter of drivers that are contracted with other teams,” he said. “I think that we need to identify the profile of the drivers that we want, and we need then to discuss all the elements with the drivers, starting from Valtteri, who is our driver, and we know his potential.

“Then if there are also other opportunities that we are evaluating one of the elements that we will evaluate is the possibility to each driver for long term.

“The Audi F1 project is a very important one. I think that drivers who want to be part of our project will want to commit on an exclusive basis with our team.

“Everything is open. But as I mentioned, we need to give Mattia a bit of time to draw the conclusion and take the decision.”