Mattia Binotto expanded on the work done by Sauber late in F1 2024 to push itself into reckoning, as he talks about embedding himself in the new role.
Sauber together with Audi were forced to bring in the changes in 2024 when Andreas Seidl was dropped from the squad and replaced by Binotto. The Italian made his F1 return after ending terms with Ferrari a couple of seasons back. It was totally a different step for him, joining a midfield outfit.
Granted that Sauber will switch to become Audi in 2026, but for Binotto, it was still a very different environment after decades at Ferrari. For starters, he is looking at the gaps to be filled which can make things smoother than how it has been running at Hinwil for years.
He has the big team knowledge and to make it a big team when Audi starts, his experience is valuable. He knows it is challenging which is why the target is 2030 to achieve targets. “I think the impressions after four months are very similar to the one after two weeks at the end, because when you join, the first impressions you’ve got often are the right one,” said Binotto.
“Obviously I’ve got the benchmark of my past life, different team, but certainly a top competitor and the comparison is straightforward in all the areas. I don’t think there is something, it’s about everything at the end. The team in there is a great team. The people are great people. I think we’ve got good people for our foundations for the future, but then you look at the gap and dimensions, it’s 400 people less to a top team.
“It’s a lot of less manufacturing capacity, engineering capacity, a simulator which is very old. So I think the entire facility, so it’s everything at the end that’s required. But we knew that, we know that, we know it’s a long journey for us. It’s not something that you can turn in a couple of months or a couple of seasons. We always said that our objective is becoming successful by 2030, the end of the decade.
“But I think it’s exactly what it’s required in terms of time to get there. And even that time, I think, is very challenging, by the way,” summed up Binotto, who relayed how important the points in Qatar was for Sauber after a year of trying. It is not the thing to be proud of as such that scored handful of points, but in the circumstances, it made them emotional as well.
“It was an important race for us, it was an important result,” continued Binotto. “We were at zero points all through the season and when it’s like that it’s somehow very painful for the entire team and you would like to see progress, and more than that trying to score points. I think we had some great updates in the last races, especially from Las Vegas.
“We know somehow for us to score points we need someone ahead of us making mistakes or something happening, but being just behind, somehow, to take the opportunity. And it’s what happened in Qatar. And then scoring points has been great, four points which are very important, showing that the progress is going in the right direction, showing that whatever we’re delivering is somehow correlating as well with the wind tunnel and the simulator, which for us is very encouraging.
“So it’s encouraging for the team. It has been emotional as well, I have to say, for the entire team. I saw really people in the garage being emotional. someone crying. It has been emotional as well for myself, finishing P8. I was not used to be emotional to finish in P8, but now it’s happening, because we know where we are, we know where it’s coming from. And again, as I said, I think it’s four points which are very important, looking ahead, looking at the wintertime, looking at the next seasons.”
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