2024-07-23 13:03:28
Nico Hülkenberg’s new racing team had a personnel earthquake. Image: AP / Denes Erdos
Formula 1
After years of sadness, tension is finally back in Formula 1. Reigning world champion Max Verstappen is still sitting comfortably at the top with a gap of 76 points. But: The lead is shrinking more.
Over the last few weeks it has become clear that McLaren has the best car at the moment. Max Verstappen is now winless for three races, with the Red Bull driver only finishing fifth at the recent Hungarian Grand Prix. He did not hold back his frustration.
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“We did everything badly today,” said Verstappen after the race and he was already angry. “You gave me this crap strategy. I’m trying to save what I can save”, rumbled the otherwise calm world champion. His race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase described his behavior as “childish”.
Formula 1: Mattia Binotto joins Audi
But there is not only excitement in the sports field this season, there is also excitement off the asphalt. After Lewis Hamilton announced his switch from Mercedes to Ferrari, the driver carousel is turning faster and faster.
Among other things, the question arises of what will happen next with Carlos Sainz. Ferrari will be racing with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton next season – it is not clear where the Spaniard will go. The Sauber racing team, which will become Audi from 2026, has long been considered a promising candidate. But now there is another personnel shock.
As the Audi factory team surprisingly announced on Tuesday, they are changing their personnel management. Former Ferrari manager Mattia Binotto will take over project management from August 1, but German Andreas Seidl will be dismissed.
Seidl was previously Managing Director of Sauber Motorsport AG and will be leaving as part of the realignment, as will Oliver Hoffmann, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sauber Group.
Formula 1: The power struggle at Audi intensifies
“I am pleased that we were able to win Mattia Binotto for our ambitious Formula 1 project,” said Gernot Döllner, Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi AG: “With his great experience from more than 25 years of Formula 1, he will certainly be able to make a decisive contribution to Audi.”
Binotto, who led Ferrari as team principal between 2019 and 2022, will serve as chief operating officer and chief technical officer at Audi. As such he takes responsibility for the operational management and sporting success of the racing team.
Mattia Binotto was a former team manager at Ferrari. Bild: Press Association / David Davies
As the “Bild” reports, the background to the long-running leadership change between Seidl and Hoffmann is said to be a power struggle. Accordingly, it is said that Hoffmann recently tried to force Seidl out of office because the team did not develop as expected. Sauber are the only Formula 1 team without any points so far.
Toni Kroos was no longer able to achieve great success, but he still left the big football stage with his head held high as the most successful German player in history. At the age of 34, Kroos ended his career after Germany were knocked out of the European Championship in the quarter-finals against Spain.
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