Valtteri Bottas reckons Mattia Binotto becoming Sauber boss will “reset” talks over the team’s remaining 2025 Formula 1 seat, but it’s also set to impact driver market discussions for others.
One of Binotto’s first tasks when he starts at Sauber – reporting directly to the Audi board ahead of the marque rebranding the long-time customer F1 entrant – on 1 August will be to decide who partners Nico Hulkenberg for next year.
Soon-to-be former Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz had long been Sauber/Audi’s first choice, but he has declined to either accept or refuse its reportedly lucrative offer when there is still a chance Red Bull or Mercedes will have a free slot after all for 2025, with regards to their respective choices over keeping Sergio Perez or promoting Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Sainz is also weighing up a surprise late offer from Alpine, with his insistence on delaying making his decision apparently cooling Williams’ interest in signing him over recent weeks.
Binotto could decide to do likewise on Sauber/Audi’s behalf while, at the same time, his Ferrari past – he hired Sainz to replace Sebastian Vettel at the Scuderia for 2021 – and track record there might make Sainz rethink what he has seen of the Sauber/Audi project.
This has become less attractive to many drivers in the energetic 2025 driver market because its downturn in 2024 results and the long lead times to turn around the fortunes of any F1 squad mean they face the likelihood of a tricky season next year without any guarantee Audi will be the best place to start F1’s new chassis and engine rules era in 2026.
“I’m not up to date with everything that is going on at every team but, of course, I think the arrival of Mattia to any team is positive, mainly because he has the experience of what it takes to build a team that is a top team nowadays, like it is at Ferrari,” Sainz said in the pre-event press conference at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.
“And he has that experience from Ferrari that he can bring into Audi. And I’m sure it’s a great asset for them.
“That’s why they hired him. And, yeah, of course, I wish him all the best there.”
Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
On the possibility of whether Binotto joining Sauber/Audi would influence his decision, Sainz initially replied, “not really” but then did not dismiss the team from his choice of signing for “a lot of teams”…
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