Hulkenberg, Sauber duo were surprised by Audi’s current change

Nico Hulkenberg together with Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu reflect on Sauber/Audi replacing Andreas Seidl and Oliver Hoffmann with Mattia Binotto.

While the hiring of Binotto came as a surprise from Sauber/Audi, the exit of Seidl and Hoffmann wasn’t as such. There were stories coming through that the team is facing internal troubles especially at the top helm with two factions ongoing.

Even though Hoffmann was senior to Seidl, but reports noted that the former was hustling the latter which made things slow on the project. This started to cause trouble and slowed down everything which caused worry among the heads of the team.

The end result was firing both Seidl and Hoffmann and replace them with former Ferrari boss Binotto, who will make his F1 return as the CTO and COO. He will have Red Bull’s Jonathan Wheatley, who will join as the team principal from July 2025 onward.

The hiring of Binotto did surprise their first driver signing Hulkenberg, who only came to know about the news a day before the release, as did the current Sauber drivers Bottas and Guanyu. But things doesn’t change a lot for them.

For Hulkenberg, he will have to re-align himself with Binotto, having been hired by Seidl but he feels that the big step from Sauber/Audi shows their seriousness and that they will not shy themselves from taking hard decisions if they find something is not working.

As for Bottas and Guanyu, it will be about re-negotiation with Binotto if they can remain with the F1 team under the new guise. They too think that a big step like this shows seriousness after the expected results haven’t come by thus far.

Surprise news –

Hulkenberg: “Of course they were influential. These were the two guys we did the deal with. That’s that. Obviously kind of an unexpected change. Obviously I was informed about the group’s decision on the day of the announcement, by Gernot Dollner himself. That’s the group’s decision, that they want to change moving forward.  Never just rely on one or two persons. In F1 everyone is kind of changeable. In terms of Mattia, I know him obviously from the past from the paddock, but I’ve never worked with him. That will change in a few months.”

Bottas: “Yeah, quite sudden news. 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.”

Guanyu: “I mean everyone found out literally over this week, so it is not like very before organised decision. I think it is very quick and sudden his happened. Of course we got info before the release of all the news all that and yeah for me let’s say I wasn’t in terms of shock, I was just of course we need to take together working together with Matthi and thanks for everything Andreas and Oliver for this team and I think as a whole group of people we didn’t achieve the goal we set for this season and that’s kind of the result of it and hopefully that we can make it a further step at least finishing this season. Like how we hoped for or expected to have because at the moment we are just struggling a little bit especially on the high fuel race to race it’s not been a very easy weekend for us.” 

Late change, any issues –

Hulkenberg: “No, not concerned. Now that was obviously a bit of a wave, a bit of a shock. But now it’s back to business. I still look forward to join their project and make it a successful story with Audi. The fact that two people that were closely involved in signing me are not there any more is of course maybe  a bit sad. But I am more interested about the project, joining Formula 1 with Audi and making it a successful story. The change shows that the CEO of Audi and everyone is looking. They are aware, they are involved. The fact that they take action means that they are very much involved and invested in it and hands on. And that’s good and positive news, yeah.”

Bottas: “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 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.

“I don’t want to go too much into details. Obviously, some things are internal, but we know that compared to, let’s say, at the moment, to the big teams, we’re still lacking a bit of human power. We could do with more people, but at the same time, the team has been hiring and growing recently quite a bit. There are certain areas that we definitely need to focus on, at the factory but also with the car performance. We’re at the moment not where we need to be and that’s basically we needed some new upgrades and into the right direction.”

Guanyu: “I mean you kind of try to process that but I think you know in Formula 1 or as a whole group of people especially as an Audi factory team when they come they were expecting at least with the current situation to be in a better place. And I think once you have been so struggling like this season, they have to make some change in the team and to help or try to kind of go into a different direction that we have been taking. And then yeah for me, I wasn’t shocked just because there’s some rumrous already and they were saying before. For me, I was expecting something might happen but then to be happening so quickly just before summer break is obviously a little bit of surprise for everyone. For me as a driver, it doesn’t change anything it just means you have to be working with the different people but what I want to achieve it’s exactly the same.”

Talks with Seidl, Binotto –

Hulkenberg: “No [for Andreas]. Yes [for Mattia]. [Just said] Hello.”

Bottas: “I’ve got a bottle opener in my back pocket, so… No, joking aside, 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 in summer break. So yeah, for sure that will change some things, so we need to… We need to speak. Also not completely relying on that [Sainz’s move]. It’s a bit of a complicated situation, but let’s see. I’m sure the cork will pop at some point.”

Guanyu: “I mean of course they are the people that you will talk to and if you want to join this team or stay with this team is very clear, but then of course, yeah, with Mattia is not someone that’s completely new for the paddock with his experience his knowledge also in the engineer side I think gives a big value for the team but yeah it just means you have to talk to different people. I think with what they want to have, I know, in terms of their goal and for the future for next year and also for when Audi factory arrive, it’s definitely going to be a little bit different and for me of course I don’t have anything new yet because Mattia is not really joining the team until summer break and so on.

“So yeah, for me it’s definitely a reset for the management group people I’m trying to talk to differently and to understanding 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 from my side I don’t think it changed a lot the overall story or the picture. I know him [Mattia] from a few years ago already when he was with Ferrari, so it’s not something I never spoke to so yeah for me like I said it’s not somebody very new that I need to introduce myself a lot to him I think he already know myself and also yeah we knew him as well.

“I actually don’t mind it because you know already kind of like I said it’s not somebody I never spoke to and for me and also for my manager, we want to stay in Formula 1. So like we’re talking to different options and also Sauber is always one of the options that we’re talking to constantly over the last few weeks. For me to having a different, let’s say, a head for instruction looking after the whole team of course that means you need to, I don’t know how to say it, you need to have a head for instruction. You need to understand what is his mission or what is his ultimate goal for this whole new project but yeah it’s clear that we need to speak to him ASAP but that really is not too difficult because you know he will be working in the team very shortly so it’s about the understanding, sit down together to see you know what the future and what does he want together as a group and go from there.”

Here’s Audi naming Jonathan Wheatley as team principal

Here’s Mattia Binotto joining Audi

Here’s Audi naming Castrol/bp as partner

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