Valtteri Bottas outlines what Sauber doesn’t have that Audi need to focus on in 2026 after F1 exit

Sauber are preparing for their final season in F1 in 2025 before handing over the reins to Audi.

The Swiss-based outfit will leave the sport after over three decades, with Audi taking over their operations in 2026 and becoming a factory team.

The German manufacturer have already confirmed their drivers for when they enter F1, with current Sauber drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu set to depart.

The duo have endured a miserable season in 2024 as they have desperately struggled at the back of the field. Zhou scored Sauber’s first points of the season at the Qatar Grand Prix by finishing an impressive eighth.

His teammate Bottas is yet to score points this year, and he came agonisingly close to finishing in the top 10 in Qatar but ended up finishing 11th after being overtaken by Lando Norris. The Finn is sat 22nd in the drivers’ standings – which sounds bizarre considering that it is a 20-driver championship.

With the team sat at the back of the grid – and with that not likely to change in 2025 – Bottas spoke with the Pirelli YouTube channel to outline what Audi need to focus on to improve the team’s fortunes in 2026.

Valtteri Bottas says Audi must work on a ‘winning mentality’ that Sauber do not have

Audi have already made big strides off the track to try and improve on it with the introduction of several key backroom staff such as CTO Mattia Binotto and new team principal Jonathan Wheatley, who joins from Red Bull.

But despite these great additions, Bottas thinks the team lacks a ‘winning mentality’ and that the new leadership in 2026 comes at the right time to fix the mindset heading into Audi’s maiden F1 season.

“We still need to keep working on the winning mentality,” he said.

“Yeah I’m talking about the mindset. We still, I think the whole team we don’t have the mindset of a winning team.

“And we are not winning at the moment, we are actually at the very back which can be tough and it gets into you. It gets into people, people get frustrated.

“People lose their confidence and I think now is actually good timing for a new leadership again in the team to try and turn things around because, yeah at the moment, as a team we don’t have the mindset to be on the podiums or winning.”

Can Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto improve Sauber’s fortunes next season?

Ahead of Audi’s arrival in 2026, Sauber will have a new driver line-up for their final season in F1 in Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto.

Hulkenberg will return to the team – having driven with Sauber back in 2013 – from Haas. The German is currently enjoying a brilliant season as he sits in the top 10 of the standings heading into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Bortoleto will join Sauber from the McLaren academy next season on a multi-year deal. The 20-year-old becomes the first full-time Brazilian driver to race in F1 since Felipe. Massa in 2017.

Bortoleto is fighting for the Formula 2 title in Abu Dhabi with Isack Hadjar, holding a lead of just half a point. The Brazilian had won the Feature Race in Qatar but was hit with a five-second penalty and finished third, allowing Hadjar to cut his advantage down.

Bortoleto knows he’ll have a tough task going up against Hulkenberg at Sauber next year, but he will learn a lot from his experienced teammate that will put him in good stead to perform when he becomes an Audi driver in 2026.