What impact might new Audi F1 chief Mattia Binotto have on F1 2025 driver market?
Mattia Binotto’s appointment at Audi has reset some driver conversations ahead of the 2025 season.
The change of leadership at the Audi F1 project, bringing in former Ferrari man Mattia Binotto, could already have had an impact on the driver market.
Just before the F1 summer break, Audi confirmed that the previous management of Oliver Hoffmann and Andreas Seidl would leave the project, with a new management structure to be put in place. Former Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto, combined with the signing of current Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley as team boss, will lead the Audi team once it takes over the Sauber squad next year.
Audi reveals management changes with Mattia Binotto hired
With plenty of change behind the scenes at Sauber ahead of Audi’s takeover in just 12 months time, the situation has been somewhat chaotic in recent months.
While Sauber continues trying to score points in its penultimate season as an independent team, the decision-making processes, infrastructure improvements, and personnel hiring have to be made with Audi’s takeover in mind in just over a year’s time.
The pieces are now being put in place by Sauber and Audi, although it hasn’t been an easy road – rumours have abounded for months about discontent behind the scenes over the previous management, rumours which became a reality last month as Audi confirmed the departure of Seidl and Hoffmann.
The two new names in charge at Audi are well-known to any F1 fan, with Binotto having been a key player in Ferrari’s dominant years two decades ago – his engineering nous contributing to Ferrari’s many strong F1 cars during the Michael Schumacher era and, later, the title challenges posed by Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel.
Binotto climbed to chief technical officer ahead of being promoted to team boss in 2019 and, while his team produced a strong car for the 2022 regulations overhaul, his management style failed to cut out the operational mistakes and strategic chaos that cost the team dearly – Binotto and Ferrari parted ways at the conclusion of that season.
Jonathan Wheatley, sporting director at Red Bull, has been with the Milton Keynes-based outfit for almost two decades and, like Binotto, is no stranger to success – he was part of the dominant Red Bull era with Sebastian Vettel, and the ongoing Max Verstappen reign. But, seeking a new challenge and a higher management role than was open to him at Red Bull, he’s leaped at the chance to become team boss at Audi.
Similar to the two-pronged approach taken by VCARB, Audi’s two senior figures will divide their duties. Binotto will serve as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technical Officer and will handle the technical side of things – including the interaction between the Audi factory at Hinwil and the Audi Formula Racing engine department in Germany. He’ll also handle the operational management of the factory.
Wheatley will be the Team Principal and management spokesperson, focusing on the racing performance and the operational management of the racing activities.
How will Mattia Binotto’s appointment affect Audi driver decisions?
The driver already signed, Nico Hulkenberg, spoke about how influential Hoffmann and Seidl had been in attracting him to the project, as he admitted the management change hadn’t been one he’d seen coming when he put pen to paper.
“Of course, they were influential,” he said.
“These were the two guys we did the deal with. So that’s that obviously, kind of an unexpected change. But, obviously, I was informed the day of the announcement about the group’s decision by Gernot Dollner [Audi CEO] himself.
“That’s the group decision – that they want to change moving forward. I think big projects like this, you have, in the management, people that are big pillars of such projects. But they never just rely on one or two persons.”
Saying he welcomed the fact that Dollner and senior management are actively involved in making strong decisions like this, showing their interest and investment into building up Sauber ahead of Audi’s takeover, Hulkenberg told PlanetF1.com that he wasn’t concerned about the changes.
“In F1, everyone is kind of changeable. In terms of Mattia, I know him from the past, from the paddock, but I’ve never worked with him, but that will change in a few months,” he said.
“I’m not concerned. It was obviously a bit of a wave, a bit of a shock but now, obviously, it’s back to business. I still look forward to joining that project and making it a successful story with Audi – the fact that two people who were closely involved in signing me are not there anymore is maybe a bit sad, but I’m more interested in the project, joining Formula 1 with Audi and making it a successful story.”
But while Hulkenberg is safely across the line with an Audi contract freshly signed in his pocket, the focus now switches to who might take the second seat.
After all, the changes of management are also very likely to have a big impact on the driver market – the negotiations any driver was having with Seidl and Hoffmann are now useless, with a completely fresh approach needed for the new management. For now, these conversations will be had with Binotto, who started work with Audi on the 1st of August – Wheatley can’t join until July 2025, due to having to serve gardening leave from Red Bull after this season.
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One of the drivers affected by the management change is Zhou Guanyu, the solid if unspectacular Chinese driver who has proven a capable match for the experienced Valtteri Bottas over the last two years.
“I think it was very quick and sudden this happened,” Zhou told media, including PlanetF1.com, at the Belgian Grand Prix as he addressed the turmoil at a team that hasn’t formally entered F1 yet.
“I wasn’t in shock, we need to thank Andreas and Oliver for everything they’ve done for this team.
“As a whole group of people, we didn’t achieve the goal we set for the season and this is kind of the result of it.
“Hopefully, we can make enough of a step, at least finishing this season, how we hoped for or expected to have because, at the moment, we’re just struggling a little bit.
“You kind of try to process that. But Formula 1 as a whole group of people, especially the Audi factory team when they come, they were expecting the current situation to be in a better place.
“Once you’re struggling, like this season we’ve had, they have to make some change in the team and to help or try to kind of go into a different direction than we’ve been taking.
“I wasn’t shocked just because there were some rumours before, expecting something might happen. But then, to happen so quickly, just before summer break is obviously a little bit of a surprise for everyone.
“But, for me as a driver, it doesn’t change anything.”
Zhou confirmed he isn’t a complete stranger to Binotto, having been part of the Ferrari Driver Academy between 2014 and ’18, but confirmed he has to start his conversations anew as he aims to retain his seat at Hinwil for next season.
“[Seidl and Hoffmann] were the people that you would talk to and, if you want to join this team or stay with this team, it’s very clear,” he said.
“But then, with Mattia, he’s not someone completely new for the paddock – his experience, his knowledge, also on the engineering side, I think it gives us great value for the team. But it just means you have to talk to different people.
“I think with what they want to have in terms of their goal and for the future for next year and also for when Audi arrives, it’s definitely going to be a little bit different.
“For me, I don’t have any news because Mattia only joins the team next week. It’s definitely a reset for the management group of people I’ve to talk to differently and to understand exactly what values you can bring and what they want you to have and to be taking part in this kind of project.
“So yeah, things definitely will be changing around a bit more than what was planned before. But, for myself, I don’t think it changed a lot the overall story or the picture.”
With Nico Hulkenberg already confirmed at Sauber/Audi for 2025, it’s pitched Zhou against Valtteri Bottas for the remaining seat if the team does decide on some continuity, and the Finn said he hadn’t been expecting the news.
“Yeah, quite sudden news,” he said.
“I believe everything happened pretty quickly, but obviously those high-level decisions, we as drivers and many of the team members don’t know really what’s going on behind the scenes. But yeah, quite unexpected, but obviously welcoming Mattia to the team. And at the same time, I want to thank Mr. Seidl and Mr. Hoffman for their contribution to the team.
“It’s a bit of a reset again. It’s not a secret that when there’s a new leadership, it will always take a bit of time, first of all. Mattia needs to know what are the weaknesses, what are the strengths, what are the priorities for short- and long-term improvements, and that’s going to take a bit of time. Again, it’s the third time now in three years, within three years, that we’ve had a change at the top, so not a new situation and the team shouldn’t be too affected at this point. I think it’s more the stuff for the future, and obviously, time will show what will happen.”
Bottas has been very open about how his own future was being held up by Carlos Sainz weighing up all his options, with the Finn understood to have been a contender for the Williams seat Sainz has since plumped for.
With that door now closed, what impact does the change of management at Audi have on Bottas’ future?
“It is going to reset a bit the talks, because we have previously been in communication with Andreas and Oliver, and now it’s Mattia, who just will officially start next week, I believe,” Bottas said at Spa, admitting that the team at Sauber/Audi has been far from “stable” as people leave, and new people arrive – something he says “doesn’t help the here and now moment”.
“So yeah, for sure that will change some things, so we need to… We need to speak. And yeah, I think the big part of the remaining driver market is waiting for Carlos’ move. That’s no lie. But also not completely relying on that. It’s a bit of a complicated situation, but let’s see. I’m sure the cork will pop at some point.”
Might Mattia Binotto spring a surprise on the driver market?
But while Binotto may not have had any influence on the decision to sign Nico Hulkenberg, the former Ferrari man is reported as having set his sights on Gabriel Bortoleto for the second seat – especially if Liam Lawson, who was understood to be a strong contender and in negotiations with the previous management, is taken off the table by Red Bull for their VCARB squad.
Bortoleto is part of McLaren’s driver programme, with the Brazilian chasing the Formula 2 title as he occupies second place for Invicta Racing. But, with no way in at McLaren any time soon as Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris have long-term contracts, Audi could be a destination for Bortoleto, as first reported by Italian publication Formu1a.uno.
“I don’t know about Sauber, there’s Zhou and Bottas to leave, but I don’t know who will stay,” Bortoleto told Motorsport.com’s Brazilian subsidiary when asked about the possibility.
“That’s nice, to be mentioned by an F1 person, because that’s where you want to get to,” he added, in reference to Binotto’s reported interest.
“But let’s see what the future holds. I’m doing my job as best I can in F2, not in difficulty, but so that I’m ready to move up to F1. I’d say that’s my situation at the moment.”
Binotto showed a willingness to take risks during his time as Ferrari’s team boss, having been instrumental in giving Charles Leclerc a leg-up from Sauber in 2018 during the transition of power from Maurizio Arrivabene to Binotto and, later, dropping the team’s supposed lead driver Sebastian Vettel in favour of Carlos Sainz – a big decision, given Vettel’s prestige as a four-time F1 World Champion.
The Leclerc promotion required parting ways with the established veteran Kimi Raikkonen, with the 2007 F1 World Champion vacating his cockpit for the Monegasque driver as Binotto sought to make his influence felt with immediate effect.
This desire for revolution, and willingness to take risks on the driver front, suggests that Zhou and Bottas – neither of whom have set the world alight over the past two years – could struggle to hold on at Sauber next year, and that Binotto could very well decide on an unproven but exciting rookie for next year.
If not Bortoleto, Lawson remains a strong prospect if Red Bull does decide against him by September – the time at which they are required to have offered Lawson a contract if they wish to keep him on board – but what about Theo Pourchaire?
The reigning Formula 2 Champion is currently treading water in his career and is the reserve driver for the team – even if that hasn’t led to many F1 opportunities since his practice and test outings with Alfa Romeo last year. Currently attempting to get an IndyCar career going, the 20-year-old should be a straightforward signing for Binotto to slot in beside Nico Hulkenberg and would represent the perfect blend – the seasoned and reliable veteran, partnered with the hot prospect who needs experience and mentorship.
With Audi having seemed unconvinced by the decisions being made by Hoffmann and Seidl, Binotto has been brought in to offer fresh perspective and decisive leadership – presumably, this expectation extends to being daring with his driver decisions.
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