PF1 sources: Current F1 boss set for big move in rival team reshuffle
Audi will officially arrive in F1 in 2026 after taking over the existing Sauber team
Mike Krack could leave Aston Martin to become the team principal of the Audi F1 2026 project, PlanetF1.com understands.
Audi, who will take over the existing Sauber team in time for F1’s major regulation changes in 2026, announced significant changes to their management structure on Tuesday.
Aston Martin boss lined up for Audi F1 role
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
Audi chairman Oliver Hoffmann and Andreas Seidl, the chief of the German manufacturer’s Formula 1 operations, were both dismissed, with former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto appointed as chief operating and chief technical officer.
The action came after months of speculation over a power struggle between Seidl and Hoffmann, which had threatened to overshadow Audi’s preparations for F1 2026.
The changes are unlikely to stop there, with Krack lined up for a sensational switch from F1 2024 rivals Aston Martin.
https://x.com/thomasmaheronf1/status/1815731121629364345
PlanetF1.com understands that Krack is being lined up to become the team principal of Audi F1, although a final decision is yet to be made.
Sauber have been officially operating without a formal team principal since Fred Vasseur, who also held the role of managing director and chief executive of Sauber Motorsport, left to join Ferrari at the end of the F1 2022 season.
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Vasseur’s responsibilities within the F1 operation were effectively assumed by Alessandro Alumni Bravi, albeit under the official role of ‘team representative’, from 2023.
A move for Krack, who previously worked for Sauber between 2001 and 2009, would see the Hinwil-based team revive the traditional F1 team principal position.
Krack was appointed team principal of Aston Martin in January 2022, leading the team’s recovery from a poor start to F1’s ground-effect era to salvage seventh place in the Constructors’ standings.
After two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso replaced the retired Sebastian Vettel that winter, Aston Martin enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2023 with Alonso registering a total of eight podium finishes – including six across the first eight races – to deliver the Silverstone-based team’s highest finish in the Championship since 2020.
Having moved to a state-of-the-art new factory in 2023, Aston Martin have struggled to hit the same heights in F1 2024 with the team currently an isolated fifth in the Constructors’ standings with 69 points – 172 adrift of fourth-placed Mercedes – and still awaiting their first podium finish of the campaign.
With the AMR24 car more difficult to drive than its predecessor, Alonso recently urged Aston Martin to “work harder, talk less and deliver more” in their attempts to resolve their on-track issues.
Sauber, meanwhile, remain the only team yet to score a point in F1 2024 ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.
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