At the halfway stage of the Formula 1 season, the hierarchy of the grid has been well and truly formed.
It doesn’t appear as though any manufacturer is going to produce a series of updates as effective as McLaren’s last year that catapulted them into the leading pack.
Instead, there are four teams challenging for race wins, three teams fighting over the final points and the final three manufacturers hoping to pick up any scraps.
Unfortunately for Sauber, they sit at the bottom of the trio hoping for plenty of retirements in each race to try and break into the top ten.
Several years of struggles under the Alfa Romeo brand have culminated in the rebranded Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber failing to score a point after 13 race weekends.
It’s a result that new owners Audi have deemed unacceptable and drastic changes have been made behind the scenes to resolve the issue.
Andreas Seidl has lost his job as the head of Audi’s F1 project and Mattia Binotto has been installed in his place to lead the team for the next 18 months before their official Formula 1 debut.
A report from the German outlet Auto Motor und Sport, followed up by a story from Autosport, has shared some of the problems Sauber are facing.
Hiring Binotto is a start but they also need to continue recruiting highly talented people from up and down the paddock.
Even Andretti are bringing new staff in despite the fact there are no guarantees that they’ll ever compete in Formula 1.
It appears as though one of the main issues facing Sauber has now been identified but resolving it will be easier said than done.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber from team principal to Audi future
Sauber struggling to recruit new staff ahead of Audi’s introduction to F1
The report from AMuS suggests that under pressure James Key’s latest updates to the car installed in Hungary did not have the desired effect.
Zhou Guanyu’s entire race weekend was essentially one long testing event to identify what works and what doesn’t.
They go on to say that the integration of new employees within the team at Hinwil is ‘causing difficulties’.
The report from Autosport echoes these thoughts and goes some way to explaining Sauber’s current struggles.
They suggest that the difficulties Audi face in hiring the right driver are similar to the problems when it comes to bringing in the best backroom personnel.
There appears to be a ‘reluctance from quality staff’ to embark on a project that they simply don’t believe in.
Audi face an uphill task to be competitive when they join the grid in 2026
The last team to join the Formula 1 grid was Haas in 2016, but their path into the paddock was very different to Audi’s.
Under Guenther Steiner, they used every possible component they were allowed to from Ferrari and built from there, scoring points on their debut at the Australian Grand Prix.
Haas also benefitted from having a UK base in Banbury, close by to several other F1 teams which made attracting staff much easier than only settling in Kannapolis in North Carolina.
Sauber are the only F1 team based in Switzerland and when Audi take complete control, they’ll also be isolated in Germany.
A collaboration between Haas and Toyota would see some staff using their facilities in Germany but it’s hardly the wealth of experience available either in the UK or Italy.
Concerns remain over Audi’s power unit project and they still haven’t signed a second driver to race alongside Nico Hulkenberg.
The clock is ticking at Audi and Mattia Binotto will wonder just how big the job on his hands is before the opening race of the 2026 season.
Leave feedback about this