15/12/2022
NEWS STORY
The post-season game of musical chairs continues as McLaren's Andreas Seidl joins Sauber ahead of Audi's F1 debut in 2026.
While we have grown used to the annual round of musical chairs involving drivers, this time around it is the team principals who are stealing the limelight.
At the end of last month, Ferrari ended weeks of speculation when it announced that Mattia Binotto would be leaving the team.
Then, yesterday, it was announced that Jost Capito and (technical director) FX Demaison, who both have strong links to Volkswagen and thereby Audi, which has already announced its intention to enter F1 in 2026, and Porsche, which has yet to confirm its plans, were both leaving Williams.
This morning, Frederic Vasseur was confirmed as Binotto's replacement at Ferrari, leaving the team principal role at Alfa Romeo open.
In October Alfa Romeo announced that it was parting company with Sauber at the end of 2023, leaving the way open for Audi to announce that it was buying a significant stake in the Swiss outfit ahead of its 2026 debut.
Earlier today, our good friend Mat Coch at Speedcafe reported that Andreas Seidl was to leave McLaren to join Audi.
Though unconfirmed at the time, the move made sense, for, like Capito and Demaison, Seidl has strong connections with Volkswagen having been team principal of Porsche's highly successful WEC programme which netted three successive titles and Le Mans victories.
Sure enough, Sauber subsequently announced the German's recruitment.
"Sauber Group is delighted to announce the appointment of Andreas Seidl as its new Chief Executive Officer," read the release. "He will start in his new role in January 2023 and will be tasked with continuing the growth of the group as a whole as Sauber keeps establishing itself as one of the brightest sporting and industrial entities on the market.
"Andreas began his motorsport career with BMW's Formula 1 project, where he also worked as Head of Track Operations at Sauber for some years. As Team Principal at Porsche, Seidl later celebrated several world championships and three overall victories at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans between 2015 and 2017, before moving on to become Team Principal of the McLaren F1 Team in 2019.
"Seidl will take over the CEO position from predecessor, Frederic Vasseur; together with the team Seidl will now work on the appointment of its new Team Principal, which will be communicated in due course.
"It is great to join the Sauber Group from January," said the German, "this is a team with a rich history in Formula One and an organisation I know really well from my time working and living in Hinwil for four years. I can't wait to join the team and work with all the colleagues at the Sauber Group on the ambitious goals we have set together. I want to thank Finn Rausing and everyone at the Sauber Group for their choice: I am looking forward to repaying their trust with my work."
"It is an immense pleasure to welcome Andreas Seidl back to Hinwil as CEO of the Sauber Group," added Finn Rausing, Sauber Holding AG Chairman of the Board of Directors. "Andreas's experience is second to none and he brings to Sauber Group a clear understanding of what is required to achieve sustained success. He takes over a company on an upward path and he shares our commitment to keeping our organisation growing: I look forward to many years of success together."
The move will surely come as a bitter blow to the Woking outfit which, following the Honda debacle, only seemed to get back on track when the German was recruited by Zak Brown.