After Audi’s announcement of its intention to enter F1 in an official capacity as a constructor starting from 2026, Sauber is undergoing a renewal, both managerial and technical. The farewell to the sponsorship of Alfa Romeo at the end of this season and that of Fred Vasseur in the direction of Ferrari prompted the Hinwil-based team to review its staff, also with additions aimed at laying solid foundations for the team’s future.
Coinciding with Fred Vasseur’s farewell to Maranello, the arrival of Andreas Seild was announced, leaving McLaren at the end of a four-season relationship in which he was able to bring the Woking team back to success in 2021. As CEO of the group, Seidl immediately began the reorganization work, which also saw the signing of James Key, also leaving McLaren.
The British engineer, who had already worked at Sauber between 2010 and 2012, will join the Hinwil-based company on 1 September as technical director, replacing Jan Monchaux, now on leave for health reasons.
Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C43
Photo by: Alfa Romeo
Clearly, Key’s hiring came by exploiting the opportunity created by various contexts, in particular given the internal restructuring that McLaren is going through, which has thus left an important technician on the market. Nonetheless, one of the team’s two drivers, Guanyu Zhou, said he was surprised that Sauber was able to bring such an important name to their ranks in such a short time, even though he knew there would be some changes with the arrival by Audi.
“I was a bit surprised, of course. I knew things were changing within the team ahead of 2026, but I didn’t expect things to be so fast. I think Andreas is trying to build a team ready for 2026.” Audi’s arrival. So I’m happy with whatever action Andreas takes. And I feel he’s a good guy who knows what’s best for the team.”
“For my part, I hope James will come to the team and give us some ideas so we can continue working and take a further step forward for the end of the season,” explained the Chinese.
James Key, Alfa Romeo F1
Photo by: Alfa Romeo
“I don’t know what happened to McLaren and why he was kicked out. But I’ve heard that Andreas and James worked very well together. I think it was they who worked at McLaren when the car was in trouble or in the back, and then brought it to win a race or to be on the podium several times”.
“So I think they both know what they are doing and I just support them and endorse the decisions that Andreas is able to make. I’m sure he’s going in the direction he wants to build the team, the internal and external structures.”
Before looking to the future, however, there is still the present. In Canada, Alfa Romeo managed to overtake Haas in the constructors’ standings, thus climbing to seventh place. Although the championship is still very long, the result in Montréal gave great confidence, in particular for the strategy adopted, which worked excellently. To improve the car, one of the main objectives is to reduce drag on the straights, which has already improved with the recent updates introduced between Monaco and Barcelona.
Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C43
Photo by: Alfa Romeo
“I think our long-term goal for the team is clear: to have less aerodynamic drag. This way we don’t have to force ourselves to use lower wings on many tracks just to make sure we don’t struggle with speed in the race maximum”.
“I think every package now has aero performance for sure, but low drag is not achieved in one day or two days or two race weekends, it’s sort of a long term goal maybe for next year or the end of this year to have something similar to solve these problems,” Zhou added.
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