Sauber CEO on second Audi seat: 'We are keeping all options open'
F1 News
- Cas van de Kleut
At the moment, the driver market is unsettled. Many drivers' contracts are expiring and it is fair to say that major driver changes are still ahead. Even Stake F1 Team, which will be transformed into Audi from 2026, is still looking around in the driver market, CEO Andreas Seidl says.
With Nico Hulkenberg 's arrival from 2025, one seat is already occupied at Stake for next season. The German comes over from Haas, and has been brought with a view to moving to Audi in 2026.
Choice for Hulkenberg at Audi
Seidl tells Formula1.com the reason he went for Hulkenberg: "That is his convincing consistent speed. Nico is definitely going to bring a lot to us as a future Audi factory team with all his experience and his personality."
The Sauber CEO continued: "He will be an important building block in the transformation we are going through as a team, but ultimately it's about his speed. It's just impressive how he pulls it off every race weekend in qualifying and races. That's why we wanted to bring him in and had no reason to wait any longer. Nico was also very keen to join our exciting project and be part of Audi's journey into Formula 1."
Sainz, or someone else to Audi after all?
Who gets the seat next to Hulkenberg is not yet known. Three weeks back, it was rumoured that the move to Audi would mean the end of Guanyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas at the team. The future German team is looking for a new driver: Carlos Sainz, as is well known, is at the top of Audi's wish list. However, the Spaniard is hoping for a chance at Red Bull Racing.
Seidl denies rumours that the team's current drivers are hopeless for a seat at Audi: "We are talking to Bottas and Zhou and we will continue to keep an eye on their performances. We are very grateful for what they have done and for what they are still doing at Kick Sauber. On the other hand, we are also looking at the driver market, to keep all options open so we can make a decision later in the year."
He added: "The driver market is very difficult to predict at the moment. Now that we already have Nico in, there is no reason to hurry in terms of that second seat. We prefer to look at the performance of our drivers and the performance of the drivers we are looking at. Then we can make the best decision."
This article was written in collaboration with Sophia Crothall.