• Audi’s 2026 Method 1 crew will likely be run by Mattia Binotto
• Binotto was previously Ferrari’s F1 crew principal
• Audi cleaned home at Sauber, the crew it is taking up, with the announcement

Audi has ended the guessing recreation of who may be answerable for its upcoming Method 1 program.

On Tuesday, Audi introduced it recruited Mattia Binotto to its F1 undertaking. Binotto will likely be each the Chief Working Officer (COO) and Chief Technical Officer (CTO) throughout the management crew of the brand new Sauber Motorsport AG crew that may race as Audi.

Binotto resigned as crew principal at Ferrari’s F1 crew in 2022. Binotto had been with the Italian automaker for 28 years, initially beginning in 1995 as a powertrain engineer. The chief in the end grew to become the top of the Italian automaker’s F1 crew and motorsports division in 2019.

The Binotto announcement additionally got here with an Audi F1 administration restructure that may see each Oliver Hoffman and Andreas Seidl depart the undertaking completely.

Seidl, who joined Sauber from McLaren in 2023, was alleged to be the CEO of the brand new Audi crew. Audi mentioned he could be “the face of the longer term Audi Method 1 Staff” as not too long ago as March.

Audi additionally introduced in March it was taking a 100% stake within the Sauber F1 crew as a part of the preparation to enter the game in 2026. And at the moment, Audi mentioned its technical boss, Hoffman, would turn into the chair of Sauber’s board. Hoffman was beforehand head of Audi Sport and oversaw the DTM and Method E applications. His position main the Sauber board would even have him on the board of Audi’s Method Racing GmbH, which is overseeing Audi’s F1 energy unit growth and features of this system past the day-to-day operations.

As an alternative, Gernot Döllner, who was named the CEO of Audi in 2023 and serves as chairman of the board, will now function chairman of the board for Sauber Motorsport AG.

Audi has already signed its first driver. In April, Audi introduced Nico Hülkenberg will drive for the Audi F1 crew when it enters the grid in 2026.