From survivor to winner? This team goes for a culture shift in '25
F1 News
- Ludo van Denderen
For Sauber, 2024 was a year to put behind quickly. Only in the second-to-last Grands Prix of the season did the Swiss team manage to score points. The future Audi team is not expected to play a significant role next season either. To become a team that does compete for the top positions, a cultural change is needed, Mattia Binotto realises.
In the middle of last year, the Italian was appointed chief operating officer (COO) and chief technical officer (CTO) of Sauber, after years of working at Ferrari. At the Italian team, every day was about winning, but in Hinwil, Switzerland, Binotto encountered a completely different mentality.
If Sauber and eventually Audi are to become successful, a big change is needed in terms of mindset. Binotto, who admits that Sauber's last few years were all about simply trying to survive, is the man to help lead that process. "So there is certainly a lot that needs to be done on the term of culture, in terms of behaviours," states the Italian.
Binotto foresees long road ahead for Sauber
To add directly. "It's a long journey. We know about that. And acting on behaviours, maybe it's even the most difficult. But we have started our journey," Binotto said.
"Since I started already, a lot has happened since then, which is not only the improvement of the racetrack, but signing Bortoleto, having a new lineup for next year. It's about Qatar as well, investment partnership, which for us is a lot of capital injection."
"Showing that overall as a team, we are moving in that direction with, I think, the right approach, the right thinking, thinking big, which is exactly the mindset we're discussing about," Binotto concluded.
This article was written in collaboration with Norberto Mujica