Audi vs. Sauber Rift Grows; Krack May Join

Rising turmoil at Audi-Sauber sees Krack poised for a major role amid escalating internal conflicts.

Mike Krack is reportedly about to leave Aston Martin F1 to head Audi’s new Formula 1 project.

Rumors actually emerged just before the recent British GP and are only the latest series of reports suggesting that all is not well behind the scenes following the takeover of the Sauber team by the Volkswagen Group brand.

Andreas Seidl, CEO of the Sauber Group, has been absent from many Grands Prix in 2024 as he focuses at Sauber’s Swiss headquarters on the transition to full factory team status by 2026.

However, before the British GP, reports surfaced of disagreements between Seidl and Oliver Hoffman.

Hoffman, who like Seidl is German, is a long-standing Audi official and board member who was appointed in March of this year as Audi’s F1 project’s chief representative.

The two men reportedly recently argued over track progress and the still unknown identity of Nico Hulkenberg’s teammate for 2025 and beyond—with Carlos Sainz now clearly wary of the Sauber/Audi project.

The team now appears to struggle to attract a top-level driver to partner with Hulkenberg.

Behind the scenes, staff report a “constant battle between Hoffmann and Seidl.” And according to other sources, Hoffmann plans to dismiss Andreas Seidl and bring in Mike Krack to be the Audi F1 team director (replacing Alessandro Alunni Bravi). And Hoffman would take over the CEO position held by Seidl.

At the same time, Seidl is apparently pressing the board to dismiss Hoffmann and, with all the powers he holds as CEO, would also appoint Krack as team director in place of Bravi.

Meanwhile, Hoffman could be facing parallel pressure from Audi CEO Gernot Dollner, who considers the failures of Audi’s road car division as well as Sauber’s failure to score even a single point so far in 2024 partly Hoffman’s fault.

Swiss F1 journalist Roger Benoit, well-connected in Hinwil, has also heard the rumors about the power struggle within Sauber.

“At Sauber,” he writes in the newspaper Blick, “the Audi tree has been burning in Hinwil for weeks.”

“It’s a matter of power. Now, another former Sauber employee enters the discussions—Mike Krack.”

Krack, who has extensive experience in German motorsport engineering, currently leads the Aston Martin F1 team, whose development progress has stalled in 2024.

“The Luxembourger,” writes Benoit, “no longer feels comfortable at Aston Martin, probably because of his boss (Lawrence) Stroll.”