De la Rosa: In the future, Audi will be able to compete for the title

Pedro de la Rosa predicts that the factory Audi team, which will be founded on the basis of the Swiss Sauber, will be able to compete with the usual leaders of Formula 1 for world championship victory in the future.

In 2022, the German automaker announced plans to enter F1 as a powertrain supplier in 2026, when new engine rules come into effect in the championship. A strategic alliance with Sauber has indeed been concluded, Audi has already acquired a stake in the company from Hinwil and plans to gradually increase its share.

Andreas Seidl, a former McLaren team principal who previously successfully ran Porsche’s endurance racing program, has already become managing director of the Sauber Group. already cooperates with one of the divisions of the Volkswagen Group.

According to de la Rosa, Audi will act gradually but do everything possible and allocate all the necessary resources to make the factory team one of the contenders for victory.

“A project like this is like a marathon. I think Andreas understands that implementation will take more than a year, argued the Spaniard, who once played for both McLaren and Sauber and took part in the F1 Nation podcast. – So far, Audi has only covered the first kilometer and there is still a long way to go.

It is difficult for me to judge the current state of Alfa Romeo, but sometimes this team performs very erratically. Sometimes their cars are very fast, sometimes they go very slow. It seems that their speed is very dependent on the characteristics of the track, as well as the approach of rubber. Sometimes they manage to heat the rubber to the desired temperatures, sometimes they don’t.

But Formula 1 is a sport where you have to see the long term and that’s the game they play at Audi, so in a few years they will be fighting for the title.”