Entering their final season in Formula 1 as Sauber, David Croft says the Hinwil team’s transition to Audi is not going “particularly smoothly” amidst huge personnel changes.

Having reached an agreement in 2022 to take over the Sauber team and turn it into the Audi works team from 2026 onwards, the team’s transition has been a drawn-out process.

David Croft: One of the problems that the Audi project…

It’s also been fraught with personnel changes, and key ones at that.

While Andreas Seidl was initially brought in as chief executive officer of Sauber Motorsport before being announced as CEO of Audi’s Formula One operations, four months later Audi announced that the German would be leaving the team.

Seidl reportedly clashed with Oliver Hoffmann, the former Audi head of development who became the F1 project’s chief representative, with rumours that there was a “constant battle between Hoffmann and Seidl”.

Both were dropped by Audi, with former Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto joining in the dual role of COO and CTO.

Formula 1’s season of change: F1 2026 explained

👉 F1 2026: Confirmed teams and power unit suppliers for F1’s huge regulation changes

👉 F1 2026 tech analysed: The future of overtaking and biggest car advantage identified

Under Binotto’s leadership, the team signed long-term Red Bull director Jonathan Wheatley to become the team principal of the F1 team. He, however, won’t join the team until July at the latest.

The changes in leadership have Croft claiming the transition “isn’t going particularly smoothly”.

“Since he [Hulkenberg] signed, the CEO has changed. Andreas Seidl brought him in,” said the Sky F1 commentator.

“They are without a team principal until April. From everything you hear it’s not going particularly smoothly, in terms of the transition to Audi. I hope this is a year for Sauber, their last in F1, where they have a better year.”

Croft believes part of the Audi “problem” is the team’s Hinwil base, the commentator revealing Audi want to move operations to Britain where the majority of the Formula 1 teams are based.

“One of the problems that the Audi project has is the location. Hinwil, as spectacular as Switzerland is, is not a great place to attract staff to. Switzerland is expensive, and you’re uprooting people,” he continued.

“They are now announcing that they need a base in the UK to make better use of talent. I am surprised that didn’t happen two years ago. Surprised it wasn’t on the radar. Persuading people to move to Switzerland, to uproot their families, is not an easy thing to do. Getting the right people in is half the battle.

“We don’t know how good, or not, their engine will be. But there’s pressure on Audi to not be a back of the grid team.

“Hulkenberg, I hope his experience and ability to develop a car, will be a massive asset to that team. Gabriel Bortoleto is a good choice alongside him. He’s a fine driver who will attract sponsorship from Brazil.”

Last year it was announced that Audi would be given added leeway in Formula 1’s budget cap to offset the costs of teams that operate in countries with higher salary levels. Salaries in Switzerland are 35 to 45 per cent higher than in the UK or Italy.

“We felt that a team based in a high labour cost country like Switzerland would end up having approximately 30% or even 40% fewer people working on the car, which we felt was fundamentally unfair,” said FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis.

“We’ve decided that this could either lead to us trying to take some protections from a regulatory point, or it would eventually mean that teams could not operate, and a team like Sauber would have to basically close and move to another country, which we don’t think is the right way for the world championship to operate.

Read next: Revealed: Why there is more to the RB21 than meets the eye