Frederic Vasseur believes it is far too early to be talking about who will drive for the Sauber team when their relationship with Audi officially begins.
The German manufacturer will enter Formula 1 in 2026 in partnership with Sauber, which will become Audi’s full works team. But it is understood they will be providing support behind the scenes before then, with current partners Alfa Romeo leaving the sport at the end of next season.
It would make sense for Audi to seek out a German driver, but they will be few and far between. Sebastian Vettel will have long since retired and there are few youngsters of note coming through the ranks right now, leaving Mick Schumacher as the only likely candidate.
So naturally, the Haas racer has been heavily linked with the Audi-Sauber team already. Some will believe it is pointless speculating about who might be in which race seat in four years’ time, and it seems the current team principal agrees.
“As you said, it’s a bit ambitious to speak about drivers for 2026,” Vasseur told reporters in Mexico last weekend. “We have the academy, we are trying to develop young ones and so, but it will be in the middle because if you are speaking about young kids often in go-kart today, it will be more for 2030 or 2032.
“For sure, we have Valtteri [Bottas] on board, we have Zhou [Guanyu] on board, we have Theo [Pourchaire] in the pipeline. But we will have time to discuss about this and I’m not sure that you have so many drivers on the grid with contract after 2026.”
Fred Vasseur refused to be drawn on the speculation
Not only is the driver situation completely up in the air, but it is also unknown what guise the team will take on once Alfa Romeo bow out. With the Audi moniker unlikely to be incorporated into the team’s official name until 2026, there will be two seasons for which a new title sponsor will need to be sought.
“You have to disassociate the name of the team, which could be the title sponsor, and the name of the company,” Vasseur added. “The name of the company will stay Sauber. The name of the chassis will stay Sauber, but we could have a title sponsor coming in.”
Also changing will be the engine supplier. Alfa Romeo currently get their power units as a customer of Ferrari, but that link will be terminated when the Audi partnership begins, as the manufacturer has been developing its own engine.
Keyword: Alfa Romeo chief responds to Mick Schumacher rumours ahead of Audi-Sauber link up