When former Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto accepted the call to head up Audi’s Formula 1 operations earlier this year, he knew it was going to be a tough task.
It is one thing honing an established team as he did at Maranello into fighting for world championship glory; it is quite another building something up from the back of the grid.
But even he admits that the Audi challenge has been greater than originally anticipated, as the reality hit home of a team struggling to score points and without a proper strategy to move itself forward.
“When I came in there was not only zero points, but really even no plans nor developments,” Audi’s COO and CTO tells Autosport in an exclusive interview. “And that’s what concerned me the most.
“Everything was only focused on ’26, but that was for me somehow a problem because I think that a team needs always to fight on track.
“It’s only by fighting, competing on track, that you can understand how good you’re doing and if whatever you’re doing is going the right direction.
“You need to understand performance. You need to understand weaknesses and strengths, and you need as well to address them. And that’s the real know-how of a team.”
Mattia Binotto, COO and CTO, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
From Binotto’s perspective, the previous management, initially led by Andreas Seidl but then joined by Oliver Hoffmann, was too focused on the longer term picture at the expense of what was happening right now.
It is what triggered Sauber’s fall down the order and also impacted the mindset of the team where it did not have a clearly defined strategy of what it should be doing today.
“When I joined in August, really, it was like a team that was almost frozen,” added Binotto. “So while making sure that we had the proper plans in our journey to become a top team in the future, we really needed to boost the team for improvement and possibly already during the current season.
“How important the current season was was not only about not finishing with zero points, because finishing 10th with zero or 10th with four points does not change much.
“But it was more for us to make sure that we have defined the proper direction of development for next season as well – and being energised through the wintertime.
“Today, I can see a team that is more convinced on what’s required, what’s necessary for next season, and hopefully we can further develop the current…
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