Audi Sport have released a statement welcoming the news that Andreas Seidl will join the Sauber Group as their new Chief Executive Officer in January, with the feeling that the appointment is good news ahead of the planned merger between the two outfits in the upcoming years.
Seidl was announced as the new CEO on Tuesday after the German ended his four-year spell as Team Principal of the McLaren F1 Team, and it marks a return to Hinwil for the first time since the BMW and BMW Sauber F1 Team era between 2000 and 2009.
Sauber will become the Audi works team from the 2026 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season when the German marque makes its long-awaited debut in the sport, and the placing of Seidl as CEO was good news for the team.
Seidl has previous experience working within the Volkswagen brand during his time as Team Principal of the Porsche WEC Team in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the mid-to-late 2010s, and Oliver Hoffmann, the CTO of Audi AG, has welcomed the announcement, calling his track record in motorsport as ‘impressive’.
“We welcome our future partner’s choice,” said Hoffmann. “Andreas Seidl has extensive experience in leadership roles across motorsport programs on both the manufacturer and Formula 1 team side.
“His track record in motorsport is impressive.”
Seidl’s replacement at McLaren was announced as Andrea Stella, and it ended a strange couple of days in Formula 1 where Williams Racing, Scuderia Ferrari, McLaren and Alfa Romeo all revealed important decisions surrounding Team Principals.
Williams are currently seeking a new Team Principal after the shock departure of Jost Capito, while Ferrari has welcomed Frédéric Vasseur as their new man in charge of the race team after last month’s departure of Mattia Binotto.
