How it began

The Audi works team grew out of Sauber, the Swiss team created by Peter Sauber. Its base has been in Hinwil, near Zurich, from the very beginning, and that is where the Audi car is now built. Before the World Championship the team raced sports prototypes, and future Formula 1 drivers Michael Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen came through its line-ups.

Sauber made its World Championship debut at the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami on 14 March 1993 — and scored points straight away: JJ Lehto finished fifth, while Karl Wendlinger retired with an engine failure. Frentzen brought the first podium, third place at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on 10 September 1995 after starting tenth.

The Sauber years

In the years that followed, the team reached the third step of the podium several more times: Johnny Herbert at the Monaco Grand Prix on 19 May 1996 and the Hungarian Grand Prix on 10 August 1997, Jean Alesi at the Belgian Grand Prix on 30 August 1998, Nick Heidfeld at the Brazilian Grand Prix on 1 April 2001, and Frentzen at the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis on 28 September 2003. In those years Sauber never finished second or won a race.

BMW Sauber

From 2006 to 2009 the team was owned by BMW and raced as BMW Sauber. Those years brought both the first pole and the first win in its history, both for Robert Kubica: pole at the Bahrain Grand Prix on 6 April 2008, and victory at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on 8 June 2008, from second on the grid. After BMW pulled out at the end of the 2009 season, the team went back to the Sauber name.

Sauber, Alfa Romeo and Kick Sauber

The most successful season under the Sauber name was 2012. Sergio Pérez finished second twice — at the Malaysian Grand Prix on 25 March and the Italian Grand Prix on 9 September 2012 — and third at the Canadian Grand Prix on 10 June, while Kamui Kobayashi was third at his home Japanese Grand Prix on 7 October 2012, having started third.

From 2019 to 2023 the team raced as Alfa Romeo, and in 2024 and 2025 as Kick Sauber. The next podium did not come until 6 July 2025: at the British Grand Prix Nico Hülkenberg climbed from nineteenth on the grid to third. It was the team’s first podium since Japan 2012, and the first of Hülkenberg’s career.

The Audi project

On 26 August 2022, at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, Audi announced that it would enter the championship from the 2026 season with its own hybrid power unit, developed in Neuburg an der Donau in Germany. On 26 October 2022 Sauber was named as its strategic partner: the chassis stays in Hinwil, the engine in Neuburg. On 8 March 2024 the company announced it would take full ownership of the Sauber Group.

On 26 April 2024 Nico Hülkenberg was announced as the future works team’s first driver, and on 6 November 2024 Gabriel Bortoleto, the 2023 Formula 3 champion, who went on to win Formula 2 in 2024 as well. On 1 August 2024 Mattia Binotto, the former Ferrari team principal, arrived in Hinwil as chief operating and chief technical officer; since 5 May 2025 he has headed the whole of Audi’s Formula 1 project. Jonathan Wheatley was team principal from April 2025; by spring 2026 Binotto had taken on that role as well. On 12 November 2025 the R26 concept car was unveiled.

2026 season

The team ran its first race as Audi at the Australian Grand Prix on 8 March 2026 with the same line-up Sauber had in 2025: Gabriel Bortoleto finished ninth and scored the first points, while Nico Hülkenberg did not start — before the race the team lost telemetry from his car and withdrew it. The 2026 regulations are new for everyone: about half of the power comes from the electrical side of the power unit, and there are eleven teams on the grid, with Cadillac joining.

On 24 April 2026 Allan McNish was appointed racing director, responsible for the team’s work at the track from the Miami Grand Prix onwards. Up to the Spanish Grand Prix on 13 September 2026 the best finishes were eighth places: Bortoleto at the British Grand Prix on 5 July and the Belgian Grand Prix on 19 July 2026, and Hülkenberg at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on 23 August 2026.