Bottas identifies what new Audi boss Binotto will need to focus on after ‘unexpected’ team changes

Valtteri Bottas has given his reaction to the impending arrival of Mattia Binotto as Audi's new F1 boss, with the Kick Sauber driver admitting that the “unexpected” change of leadership could act as a “bit of a reset” for the squad.

It was confirmed ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix that former Ferrari Team Principal Binotto will join on August 1 – ahead of Sauber's transition into being Audi’s works outfit in 2026 – in the position of Chief Operating and Chief Technical Officer based at the Sauber factory in Hinwil, Switzerland.

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The changes will also see Andreas Seidl – who joined Sauber in January 2023 and was CEO of the Audi team – leave the company, along with Audi executive Oliver Hoffmann, who was overseeing the project.

Asked for his thoughts on Binotto replacing Seidl at the outfit, Bottas commented: “Yeah, quite sudden news. I believe everything happened pretty quickly, but obviously those high-level decisions, we as drivers and many of the team members don't know really what's going on behind the scenes.

“But yeah, quite unexpected, but obviously welcoming Mattia to the team. And at the same time, I want to thank Mr Seidl and Mr Hoffman for their contribution to the team.”

Pushed on how he expected the restructure to affect the day-to-day running of the team, Bottas suggested that any changes would take some time to take effect.

“It's a bit of a reset again,” the 10-time race winner said. “It's not a secret that when there's a new leadership, it will always take a bit of time, first of all.

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“Mattia needs to know what are the weaknesses, what are the strengths, what are the priorities for short and long-term improvements, and that's going to take a bit of time.

“Again, it's the third time now in three years, within three years, that we've had change at the top, so not a new situation, and the team shouldn't be too affected at this point. I think it's more the stuff for the future, and obviously time will show what will happen.”

In terms of what the priorities will be for Binotto, both in the long-term and short-term, Bottas acknowledged that the team still need to build on their workforce.

“Obviously, some things are internal, but we know that compared to, let's say, at the moment, to the big teams, we're still lacking a bit of human power,” the 34-year-old explained. “We could do with more people, but at the same time, the team has been hiring and growing recently quite a bit.

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“There are certain areas that we definitely need to focus on, at the factory but also with the car performance. We're at the moment not where we need to be, and that basically we needed some new upgrades and into the right direction.”

Bottas’ team mate Zhou Guanyu also gave his take on Binotto’s arrival, with the Chinese driver hopeful that the changes at Kick Sauber can eventually deliver a positive impact on the track.

“It’s, let’s say, different news for everyone especially involved on the trackside and also back in the factory,” said Zhou. “Obviously Mattia has taken a new role that’s going to be looking at all the stuff and making sure we can do a bigger step in terms of bringing the performance back to where I think everyone wants it to be.

“For us right now, of course, we still have one more race to finish on a high before Mattia joins, so hopefully we gather all the information, all the details where we need to improve as a whole group of people and then to continue making, let’s say, a big step behind the scenes that can give us the results we really wanted to have on track.”