Audi F1 now ‘talking to four race winners’ as silly season hots up

Audi will officially arrive in F1 in 2026 after taking over the existing Sauber team

Stake team representative Alessandro Alunni-Bravi said they are talking to four race winners” as they try to secure their lineup ahead of Audi’s arrival in 2026.

There is just one full season left before Audi makes its long-awaited foray into F1 but with one seat up for grabs, Stake are still in the process of confirming their 2025 lineup.

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Given the contract situations, it is likely whoever is signed in 2025 will stay on for the Audi project as that resembles a significant bargaining chip and, with Nico Hulkenberg having already signed on the dotted line, Stake are one of a number of teams still deciding on who their second driver will be.

Team representative Alessandro Alunni-Bravi shed a little more light on the situation over the course of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend by saying they were talking to “four Formula 1 race winners.”

“There are in the Formula 1 market four Formula 1 race winners and we are discussing with all of them,” he said.

“One of the main characteristics we want is a long-term commitment with the Audi project.”

The four winners who are free next season are presumed to be Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz and current Stake driver Valtteri Bottas.

Stake are the only team yet to score a point this season and there have been suggestions that the team are willing to sacrifice 2024 and 2025 in the knowledge that Audi will arrive in 2026.

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Alunni Bravi disagreed with that hypothesis and said that they are actively working to deal with their weakness.

“I think it’s a mistake to mix both things,” he said. “I don’t think that the preparation for the Audi works team is affecting the current two seasons, and it must not.

“I think that we have weaknesses that we are trying to address. Andreas Seidl is working from last January on improving the team in this transformation process. But the transformation process starts from the improvement on the current structure and in finding the right people to reinforce our technical teams in every area.

“I don’t think that there are two separate tasks to be done, one for the works team and one for the current team.

“There are not two separate teams. There is one team. that needs to be the foundation for the works team.”

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