Binotto is sure Sauber has the potential to move forward
Having joined Sauber, Audi's future F1 works outfit, Mattia Binotto has revealed some key areas that the Hinwil-based outfit will need to address in the coming months to prepare itself for its transition to become a proper F1 team.
As preparations for entering the highest class of motorsports are going full speed, Audi announced the appointment of former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto at the end of July to head up its Formula 1 project as part of a major management shake-up.
The Swiss-Italian returned to F1 after parting ways with Ferrari at the end of the 2022 season. Binotto started his new position as Chief Operating and Chief Technical Officer (COO and CTO) on the 1st of August.
Having taken on his new role five months ago, Binotto was asked of his first impressions of Hinwil and the job that the team has ahead of it before 2026. Ferrari's former team boss explained that while the engineering capacity is great, there are some key areas that need to go through a significant improvement.
"I think the impressions after [five] 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.
"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.
Pushed on to reveal what the team will need beside the hardware, Binotto has pinpointed the mentality which needs to be changed from the "survival mode" into a winning mentality in the future.
"As a matter of fact, I think that team in the last year's decade has been there surviving, in a survival mode. So at the end, it was about surviving, participating, trying to get the best out of it. But a winning mentality, a winning mindset, it's a different approach.
"So there is certainly a lot that needs to be done in terms of culture, in terms of behaviours. Again, I think it's going together with what we just mentioned before. It's a long journey, we know about that, and acting on behaviours, maybe it's even the most difficult.
"But we have started our journey. I think we've got a few projects. You mentioned the last four months. I have to say that since I started already, a lot has happened since then, which is not only the improvement at the racetrack, signing Bortoleto, having a new line-up for next year.
"It's about Qatar as well, investment and partnership, which for us it's a lot of capital injection but showing that overall as a team we are moving in in that direction with I think the right approach, the right thinking, thinking big, which is exactly the mindset we're discussing about," concluded Binotto.
