General
Why is no one interested in switching to Audi?
- Ludo van Denderen
Esteban Ocon has known for sure since Monday: there is no future for him at Alpine and so the Frenchman must look for a seat elsewhere. Audi are reportedly interested in the one-time GP winner, but Ocon himself would prefer Haas F1; the smallest team with the most modest budget and no factory team. Ocon is not the only one who is not hot for F1's newest entrant. Carlos Sainz is also not eager to switch to Audi. Why is that?
Racing for a factory team has its advantages. First of all - and this sounds logical - it is a factory team; where the better parts are always available than with customer teams, where a power unit is built exactly so that it fits perfectly into the chassis (customer teams, on the contrary, have to design their cars around the PU). And also yes, not entirely unimportant: Usually there is plenty of money, especially at a new team like Audi that want to make a good impression as soon as possible.
Yet Carlos Sainz flatly refuses to say 'yes' to an extremely lucrative offer from Audi and emphatically flirts with modest Williams. Just as second-choice Esteban Ocon would rather drive for Haas than the German. Probably both see too many uncertainties at Audi - which is currently still Sauber and drive the Grands Prix under the sponsor name Stake F1.
Sauber's results make Audi unattractive
Sauber are the only team in the current season that has yet to pick up a single point. There is no expectation that the currently Swiss (at the end of the year, all shares will be acquired by Audi and the team will be completely German, ed.) will be able to make the jump to the midfield - let alone the top - including now and at the end of next season. For Sainz, who is currently used to competing for wins, a season at the back is not an attractive prospect, just as Ocon probably has no appetite for the rear (he already resides that with Alpine now).
Perhaps there are also medium-term doubts about Sainz and Ocon. As is well known, from the '26 season, new regulations will come into play, so all teams start from zero in terms of their car designs. Only that Audi start slightly more from scratch than many of their competitors. This is because it remains to be seen how powerful and reliable the first Audi power unit is. The past in Formula 1 has shown that a brand-new manufacturer suffer from start-up problems in the beginning.
Audi with some transition years?
Sainz and Ocon probably see '25 as a transitional year, while '26 is the season of learning. With a bit of bad luck, '27 will not be as desired either. F1 drivers are inherently the impatient type and two or even three years of anonymous driving in F1 are lost years.
In almost every racing class Audi have ever competed in, the Germans were ultimately successful. For Formula 1, ambitions are sky-high. But it will probably be a project that needs a start-up period. No doubt Audi will eventually become a highly sought-after destination for drivers. But at the moment, they prefer to wait and see and Williams (Sainz) and Haas (Ocon) are 'safer' options for now.