Mattia Binotto is returning to F1.
The former Ferrari team boss takes up the role at Sauber ahead of the team becoming Audi’s works project for the 2026 season. Audi statementIt was announced that Binotto will “assume the role of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technical Officer on the Sauber Motorsport AG leadership team, with responsibility and accountability for the operational management and sporting success of the racing team. Mattia Binotto will report to the Board of Management of Sauber Motorsport AG.”
It was also announced that Oliver Hoffmann and Andreas Seidl, who have reportedly been engaged in a “power struggle” over the direction of the Audi project in recent weeks, will be leaving the organisation.
“We are pleased to welcome Mattia Binotto to our ambitious Formula 1 project,” said Gernot Dörner, CEO of AUDI AG. “With more than 25 years of experience in Formula 1, we are sure he will make a decisive contribution to Audi.”
“Our goal is to bring the entire F1 project up to F1 speed with clear management structures, clear responsibilities, reduced interfaces and efficient decision-making processes. To this end, the teams must be able to act independently and quickly,” said Gernot Dörner, future Chairman of the Board of Management of Sauber Motorsport AG.
Binotto’s most recent season in F1 was the 2022 season, in which he served as team principal at Ferrari. His tenure at the Scuderia had mixed results and he was sacked at the end of the 2022 season.
The team announced this spring that Nico Hulkenberg would move to Sauber for the 2025 season ahead of Audi’s takeover in 2026. Hulkenberg has previously been linked with Seidl, and at the Miami Grand Prix the German driver told media: “I’m not sure if I’d be able to move to Sauber in 2025, but I think it’s a good idea.” SB NationHow important Seidl was in recruiting him for the Audi project.
“I’ve been very lucky,” Hulkenberg said in Miami. [Seidl]And he’s very open and honest with me.
“I remember in 2020, I think it was before the season started, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do, but I remember calling him, and he was obviously at McLaren at the time, and I [for a spot so I asked him] ‘[I]Do I have a chance?
“And he was honest: ‘No, don’t get your hopes up. It’s not going to happen.’
“Then this time, a few years later, things were completely different. He was so eager to help me.”
However, it will be Binotto who Hulkenberg will be working with next year.
