The Swiss will switch to Audi – Newspaper Kommersant No. 200 (7401) of 10/27/2022

The Swiss Formula 1 team Sauber, which has been playing in the World Championship under the Alfa Romeo brand in recent years, has officially confirmed that Audi, a brand of the Volkswagen Group, will become its new partner and co-owner. The deal assumes that Audi will become the owner of a large stake in the “stable”. The cooperation of the companies will give the first fruits no earlier than 2026, when the new regulation will come into force in Formula 1. Be that as it may, the appearance of such a solid partner Sauber gives the team the opportunity to break out of the quagmire of the middle peasants.

On Wednesday, the Sauber Formula 1 team, which has been called Alfa Romeo since 2018 (the contract expires at the end of the 2023 season), officially confirmed that Audi, one of the Volkswagen Group brands, will become its new partner. In a statement The team notes that Audi will not just be a supplier of power plants, but will become a co-owner of the team. Details, in particular, regarding the share that Audi will receive at its disposal, are not given (a number of sources believe that we are talking about 50%). However, in a statement, Sauber notes that for the company “becoming an official Audi team is not only an honor, but also a great responsibility.” “This is the best opportunity to secure the future and we are fully confident that we can help Audi achieve its Formula 1 goals,” Sauber said in a statement. That is, we are not talking about some kind of title sponsorship contract, as in the case of Alfa Romeo, but about the full transfer of a significant part of control over the team’s affairs to a new investor.

Note that in itself the arrival of Audi in the “Formula 1” is not fresh news. The company announced this back in August. Another thing is that the partner of the German brand has never been officially named before.

Cooperation with Audi is very likely to allow Sauber to get out of the quagmire of the middle peasants of the championship. At the moment, Alfa Romeo is sixth in the Constructors’ Championship (a total of ten teams are in the championship), but it is likely that it will drop to seventh place in the championship – only one point separates the Swiss from Aston Martin.

The chances of Sauber transforming into a noticeable force in Formula 1 seem quite noticeable, given that it is in 2026, when the full-fledged appearance of Audi in Formula 1, that the series will face another powerful reform of the technical regulations. Her most important parameters will be the introduction of budget restrictions on the development of engines (no more than $95 million in the period up to 2025 and no more than $130 million in 2026), as well as the transition to synthetic fuel, which will be produced by the world’s largest oil company Aramco. Roughly speaking, we are talking about extracting carbon from air, hydrogen from water, then magically mix it all up and, after a series of chemical reactions, get the same fuel based on hydrocarbons. Audi noted that only after the International Automobile Federation (FIA) approved the decision to move to a carbon neutral policy, the company made the final decision to go into Formula 1.

It is interesting, however, that Sauber already had experience of close cooperation with the top German automobile concern. Between 2006 and 2010, the team was co-owned by BMW. However, this cooperation was not remembered for special successes. Although formally in 2007, BMW Sauber was second in the Constructors’ Championship, but only because McLaren was stripped of all points that season for stealing confidential data from Ferrari.

At the same time as Audi, another Volkswagen brand, Porsche, planned to enter Formula 1, but the company’s negotiations with Red Bull were unsuccessful. However, according to Motorsport, Porsche does not leave hope to break into the series and is in talks to acquire half of the Williams team.

Alexander Petrov