Mattia Binotto, former director of Scuderia Ferrari, will return to F1 and will have the future of the Audi project in his hands.
Mattia Binotto has already made his return to the F1 paddocks. However, he swapped the red shirt for a shirt in the colors of Sauber (Audi in 2026). But then, why re-enter the discipline, especially at the head of a team which is languishing at the bottom of the rankings?
“I missed car racing”, declared Mattia Binotto in Corriere della Sera. “I missed the concept of team. But I only agreed to come back because I’m starting from a completely blank slate. It’s the fascination of the challenge.”
Aged 54, the Italian is embarking on a new challenge, having only known one team in F1, Scuderia Ferrari from 1995 to 2022. With Audi, the project seems completely different, whether it is the available resources, but also the size of the company. However, Mattia Binotto sees some similarities.
« I find a lot of similarities with the team I started in 1995. A company where everything had to be built or rebuilt. At the time, in addition to reorganizing departments and methodology, you had to train people to win. Instill the ‘we’re not here to participate’ mentality.”
Mattia Binotto recognized that only the Audi project was ambitious and attractive enough to bring him back to F1. Let’s not forget that his name was mentioned by Alpine a few months ago.
“Having the desire to start again, the only attractive challenge for me was Audi, the most ambitious. It would have made no sense to join a team that was already functioning. Here, on the contrary, I can build, I relive part of my past and that’s also why it’s fascinating.”
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Audi does not want to make up the numbers in F1
At the head of the Audi F1 Team project, Mattia Binotto sets the course for the future team. The latter wants “stay for a long time” in Formula 1 in order to “create a winning team and become a technical reference.”
The stakes are high for the firm with the four rings, the competition will be tough in a peloton where the slightest point gleaned in the race can be worth millions at the end of the season.
“We have to work on the company itself, on its size, on its culture. If we compare ourselves to our opponents, we have about 400 fewer people, we need to add more to be able to compete at the same level. Our choice is to invest in young people.”
In everything it has undertaken in motorsport Audi has always succeeded, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Rally… We therefore expect to see Audi win in F1, yes, but when?
“Some teams took years to reach the top. Todt joined Maranello in 1993 and the first constructors’ title was won in 1999. Same thing for Mercedes. It takes five to seven years, we hope to fight in 2030”, concluded Mattia Binotto.
Also read: Binotto will have the last word on the second Audi F1 driver
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