How Ferrari's new boss paved the way for Audi's F1 arrival

Fred Vasseur has handed the reins to Andreas Seidl as Sauber gears up for its Audi era from 2026. The Frenchman was key to the deal with Ingolstadt reaching fruition, as he revealed in an interview with Motorsport.com prior to his Ferrari switch

It's all change at Sauber as ex-McLaren Formula 1 chief Andreas Seidl starts his new job as overall boss of the Swiss organisation. Seidl has taken on Ferrari-bound Fred Vasseur's CEO title and will oversee the big picture and the long-term strategy of the group, including its technology business, as it builds towards its full collaboration with Audi in 2026. A new team principal will be hired to take on the rest of Vasseur's erstwhile responsibilities, and oversee the day-to-day running of the race operation.

For Seidl the move represents a homecoming of sorts – he spent four years in Hinwil with what was then BMW's works F1 team. And he's not the only key player with BMW connections. Audi motorsport CEO Adam Baker was also involved back in the day, latterly as head of race and testing on the engine side. Then there's Guido Stalmann, director of partnerships, communication and business affairs for the Audi F1 programme, who had a similar role in the BMW era.