Jacques Villeneuve harshly critiques Sauber, accusing the team of simply waiting for Audi’s arrival without striving for competitiveness.
1997 F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve has criticised his former team, Sauber, for “not even trying to be competitive” ahead of Audi’s arrival in 2026.
Sauber is the only F1 team yet to score a point this season. The Swiss-based outfit has often seen its drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou, qualify 19th and 20th respectively, before finishing well down the order on race day.
Despite a relatively competitive start to the season, pit stop issues repeatedly thwarted Bottas’ chances of scoring points.
As the development race progressed, Sauber slipped to the back of the grid, falling behind teams like Alpine and Williams.
Audi will take over Sauber from 2026, transforming the team into a full-fledged factory outfit.
However, Villeneuve, who raced for the team during its BMW days, did not hold back in his assessment.
“The funny thing about Sauber is that they are more or less at the back in every qualifying session and more or less at the back in every race, but if you look at the times, the grid is so tight that they’re only a second, maybe a second and a half off pole.”
“So, it’s obviously not bad Formula 1, it’s just that compared to everyone else, it looks that way. They would have been happy in the 1990s when the backmarkers were five seconds off the pace.”
“But they’re just surviving until Audi takes over. They don’t seem to be pushing the car much.”
“They’re not even trying to be competitive, so there’s not much to say about them.”
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Sauber “just surviving” until Audi takeover, says Villeneuve Sauber “just surviving” until Audi takeover, says Villeneuve
