OUT BEFORE THEY'RE EVEN IN?! Opinions on the Audi and Sauber Rumours 

A few wise guys once said; “I’ll believe it when I see the Audis on the grid.”

F1 :"Andretti does not add to the championship. They may be able to join in 2028" Audi: "Hold my beer"

Andretti would only Buy Sauber for the entry essentially. They'd quickly gut the Switzerland operation.

VW group did the same to IndyCar. F1’s mistake is thinking that the series would seal the deal just because it is F1. At this point nobody will want to sit at the table to discuss entry into series with VW group unless they bring a small nations GDP fortune with them.

Sauber is the equivalent of a DVD you sell to CeX. People buy it but don't want to hold onto it!

This half assery from Audi is exactly what I expected to happen, it's a shame they just killed off their wec programme and with that a lot of heritage

Suddenly Andretti entrance is more realistic than before, whether by Sauber takeover or perception shifting towards big brands joining F1 that makes them rejected by FOM..

So all the big names that F1 courted and bent over backwards for don’t look like they will remain committed yet the name “that brings nothing to the sport” apart from actually showing up when they say is left standing outside going WTF?? Makes you wonder

After Andretti's case I'm actually hoping to see the new teams starting to get rid of their F1 entry plans, so FIA and Liberty Media will have to change their rules, regs and approach on getting teams to the sport to not go bankrupt, because of how things are going it won't take too long for F1 to start having a crisis like they were before Liberty Media stepped in.

1995 and 1996 Sauber were Ford's works team. They got the Ford deal after Benetton/Flavio got the Renault V10 deal.

Is Domenicali a bit of a fuck up at his job? Yes he probably is. He possibly started all this grief with Andretti, to get Audi in the door at Sauber, long before Andretti went through the FIA process. If Andretti / GM end up buying Sauber for 2026 and both AUDI & Porche are no shows, Domenicali’s going to look ridiculous.

Those 90s Saubers from about 98 to 03 or 04 were arguably some of the best looking in an ultra good looking grid. It was them, Arrows,Jordan that had some of the sharpest cars on the grid, in an era of Marlboro backed Ferraris and silver West McLarens (though why they didn't do the Zakspeed trick of going East for the races where ciggie adverts were banned I'll never know)

Andretti was already investing in facilities for his new team, and could move Sauber into them, making getting and keeping personnel easier. The major question would be "How would Andretti purchasing Sauber go any better than last time?" There was a deal, ready to sign, only for Sauber's ownership to decide what they really wanted was Andretti's money, but not for Andretti to have a say in the team. Only way Andretti buys the team would be taking over Audi's deal, completely, giving them majority ownership and control

The name KICK Sauber just becomes funnier by the day

VW Group's commitments to various series are always temporary, at best. Except the Porsche 911 in various series, the various VW brands seem to get bored after about 5 years; VW and then Audio in Dakar, SEAT, Skoda, and then VW in the WRC, Porsche and Audi in the WEC, etc. Porsche already decided against joining F1. Even if Audi made it in, their interest would only last so long before the board decided to focus on something else. This is the risk Formula 1 is taking by pushing for OEM involvement with the teams, rather than just as engine suppliers. Renault has been in and out multiple times, and could leave again soon, and Honda and Toyota and BMW have come and gone. The series is better off focusing on building strong independent teams that won't be upended by some CEO deciding to spend their advertising money somewhere else. Note: I am not counting series such as GT3 and all rally classes below Rally1, where the business model is to build and sell cars to privateer teams, not field factory-backed entries.

When Williams had Budweisers sponsorship they got around in countries with alcohol advertising bans by using SeaWorld branding which Anhauser-Busch also owned

“Al Gore Rhythm” genius Aidan!!

To quote a certain dashcam channel, "Always an Audi!"

Germany is going through a deindustrialization process as it can no longer access cheap sources of energy and raw materials from Russia. I find stunning how people in Europe have not connected the dots!

Sauber refused to sell to Andretti a few years ago. If I recall correctly, Sauber would only sell if the team would remain in Switzerland, while for Andretti the entire point is to have a significant US presence. So, while if Audi complete the purchase they might later be willing to sell to Andretti, I don't see Sauber selling to them if Audi back out.

The 93 Sauber engines were also Ilmors badged as ‘Sauber’

That livery in the thumbnail SLAPS

I think I know a certain outfit who may be somewhat interested in buying up sauber

I laughed at the Al-Gore-rythm. Didn't expect that one.

You're amazing at telljng these stories, with great editing.

I've always wanted to see Audi in F1 so I am worried about them giving up on their entry. On the other hand, Audi giving up last minute would make F1 look incredibly silly and I would find that hilarious. If this happens I hope Sauber finds some good buyers, it'd be a shame to see them fade off. I don't think Andretti would buy them, I think they'll prioritise their own entry.

100k subs coming in hot, well deserved!

I had a feeling pandering to Audi with the 2026 regulations was a bad idea

1:04 The 1995 Ford ECA Zetec-R used by Sauber, and JD V10 used in 1996 were a factory effort from Ford since Sauber replaced Benetton as official Ford F1 team. By 1997 Stewart became the Ford official team, thus Sauber had to run Ferrari costumer engines. In 1993 and 1994 Sauber had Ilmor engines paid/sponsored by Mercedes, Mercedes then commited to F1 and bought Ilmor.

Works Ford in 1995 and 1996. Yet 1996 was more a testing year for 1997 and Steward

From the beginning , many years ago, VW group have not once followed up fully from any commitment to F1 .

“Bitten and Hisses” 🐍 was my personal favorite.

If I was Marketing Stake F1, I would brand the cars 'Steak' where gambling is banned. Just swap the letters round on the stickers.

It seems that F1 via FOM started shifting its priorities and policy positions after Chase Carey left as CEO. I remember there used to be fan surveys to gauge interest in particular ideas. It was generally a more humble approach to the business side of the sport. I think the new approach is going to alienate fans and potential teams. This could mean severe problems in the event of another global financial crisis.

What i found out recently was the fact that just before Audi put their funds and interest into F1, they had a project ready to start testing and enter the WEC. Literally weeks before testing, after all the development and allocated funds they pulled the plug in favour of the move to F1! Mirror image of Aston Martin! If they pull the plug on the F1 project, I'm itching to see the LMH project being revived as they are an historically successful WEC manufacturer. It'll go some way into proving that they CAN produce some interesting vehicles and not just the usual copy and paste generic, boring and drab washing machines that almost every manufacturer is incessantly churning out currently. #makeaudigreatagain

If Audi does come in, all they need to do is go down a dealership to find a driver as their inability to use indicators is perfect preperation for an F1 drive

Suddenly the whole Audi gymkhana thing makes way more since

Big car companies are quite happy to just "meh" and walk away from things, if they'll do it with a technical partnership for a road car - as they did with Suzuki - they'll walk away from a race car as well.

With regards to the Jordans and the tobacco advertisement bans - didn't they also run with Fizzy and Schuy on the rear wings once or twice?

As a Sauber Fan, so help me if Audi pull out before they start in 2026 ...

Great.... just great.

Good Audi should return to WEC

I hope so, would serve FOM right

The moment you starting say “Rumours” about 5 times in one sentence, I could smell the “Thing about the thing” closing statement a mile off 😁

Excelent video, will be interesting to see what happens, although if the rumours are true then its not looking very good you have to say

Never been an Andretti fan, but I would love it if he got onto the grid via a Brawn style, €1 buyout of Audi’s share of Sauber.

Love seeing my concepts popping up here on youtube, especially with creators I follow :D I'd appreciate a little credit though...

Why would Andretti want a shop in Switzerland? Two words: wind tunnel.

Sauber? Audi? Auber? Saubaudi? Saudi!!

Great video, but what I want to know is.... I saw your guitars. What type of music do you play?

You said it, Adrien, Michael Andretti was already looking at buying sober in the first place before he got the GM announcement. Definitely watch the space.

Im thinking that Audi are getting cold feet about building their own engine. McLaren's recent good form is peoof that the new engine rules are working (customer teans are not handicapped). Now there is a tech tie up between vw group and Ford, i wonder if audi might use an engine built by ford/rbpt ?

As a West Ham fan, I enjoyed the video.

This thing indeed made me think about a thing.

I expect they will simply be Kick in thoes places as ot is a streaming service in competition with Twitch.

I really hope they just go with STEAK on the cars in the non gambling coutries

I personally want Audi to pull out as karmic punishment to Formula 1 for denying Andretti's entry and being very very rude and hypocritical about it.

Andretti will be circling 😂

Why should Andretti buy Audi's shares? It's cheaper than the entry fee for a new team. Buy into one, then take it over once the feet are firmly under the table. Even if they have to move the UK "office" to Hinwil, it'll still be a _lot_ cheaper than a new entry. Buy in Ferrari engines for a couple of years until GM is ready and away they go for less than half the cost of setting up a new team. At least there wouldn't be any jitters from on high at Andretti as there are at Audi. Sauber might prefer to partner with a racing team rather than a manufacturer that might bottle out at the last moment. Peter Sauber has been trying to sell the team to "the right entity/person" for decades! The Andrettis should be right up his alley. (Edit: why would top engineers go to Switzerland? Sauber is a renowned "engineers team". They don't get BTech grads, they get uni grads and experienced "hands on" engineers. From what I've picked up, a few years at Sauber is a _massive_ tick on your CV.)

so Audi's Sauber involvement could be at Stake? :)

Kick is specifically Stake's "we have Twitch at home" that exists because Twitch banned gambling.

This is why I hate manufactures, they come and go as they please and being in F1 isn’t about the racing rather the coin. While if you look at Andretti, Williams, or Sauber they’re here because they want to race, anything else is a bonus.

Ford should vouch for Andretti so that they not only supply RBR with power units but also Andretti as a customer team

Andretti tried to buy Sauber once for the $600 million Audi bought it for. But, the bank ending on wanting to be bought for billions of dollars instead if Andretti wanted the team... I'm guessing Andretti will have to buy Audi if they want Sauber now.

Andretti buys Sauber, relocates to the USA. The rest of the teams say wtf as they realise theres nothing they can do, considering that Sauber is already a customer team, so extending the engine supply is no arduous task, and as the grid slots remain the same, there is no dilution of the prize pot. Audi chang their mind again, and decide to join. F1 tells them to do one.

This has been the most interesting off season in years.

I will be honest, with the hostility against Andretti, Porsche doing the fake-out into WEC and now this? You have to wonder what will happen at Liberty Media. Because this is a massive bit of egg on it's face, as much as folks will point to the FIA.... they welcomed Andretti and Porsche is in the WEC in the top class. End of the day, despite the massive amount of fuck-ups, the FIA walks away happy... they did the job. I should also note that Audi paused an LMDh entry for F1 (most likely) so if that spins back up, I would turn to Liberty Media on this failure. They and the teams are the only set of road-blocks here.

Perhaps Audi should focus less on an expensive F1 sinkhole and more on, you know... BUILDING GOOD CARS AGAIN!

Just to hone your knowledge a little sharper, the reason Mercedes seemed slow to badge their Ilmor F1 engine as a Mercedes unit was pretty clever. Until the engine was developed enough to be both reliable and competitive it was an Ilmor, if it was slow or blew-up no biggie the onus was on the Ilmor brand not on Mercedes who were able to keep their ownership of the engine after arms length until it was a winner.

Andretti has already set up a Silverstone office, so it's likely that after a couple of years, they will move everything into the Silverstone and Indianapolis offices and sell off the Swiss office.

I don't give two drips for either Sauber or Audi, but I would love to see the deal fall through. This will give F1 another chance to invent a new reason why Andretti can't get on the grid even if they buy Sauber.

With how long its been rumored, I'll believe an Audi on the grid when the lights go out and it's on the grid

Audi road cars haven't been received well by the public because the general consensus is that Audis nowadays are just posh Volkswagens. Why spend so much to buy what is basically a Golf in a nice suit when you can just buy the Golf and save money instead? There's also the fact that the R8 and TT road cars will end production soon (was rather hoping they would make a special turbo inline 5 powered Audi R8 as a fun little send-off for the engine) and Audi seems to be interested in making fun EVs, even going so far as to work with the late Ken Block to make their EVs look good. I think maybe the growing popularity of the Hypercar class at endurance racing is making Audi reconsider their F1 operation. Endurance racing fans want Audi back in WEC, WEC is also significantly cheaper than F1 and Audi already has quite the legacy in endurance racing so why not further that legacy instead of wasting billions to make millions in F1?

Not letting Audi in could still potentially come back to bite Formula one

The timing of this, imho, is very interesting. There COULD be something going on behind the scenes, where Audi and Porsche want to pull the plug on Sauber, whilst Ford wants to pull the plug on their Red Bull deal. RBPT's engines supposedly are behind and not what they expected, and that never will be a good image for Ford, whom are in cahoots with RBR over the Horner-gate issue. If Ford pulls the plug, RBR would need a new engine deal. AFAIR, it was Horner who ruined the RBR-Porsche collab over a 'percentage' deal. As it seems impossible for Horner to stay, with him out, it can swoop Porsche - or Audi - into the RBR family, with a Audi deal for Red Bull, and a Porsche deal for RB (VCARB whatever). It could be vise versa though, RBR-Porsche and RB/VCARB-Audi, however, i think personally Porsche would prefer a full name deal with which they'd essentially be buying or taking over the RB/VCARB/TOROROSSO/ALPHATAURI outfit of which there already is a lot of controversy in F1.It would actually make sense, as it would mean Porsche can 'for cheap' (relatively) get a Red Bull car. RBPT could simply 'hand over' their knowledge to Audi and Porsche, and 'fuse it' with their current prospects, or, actually hand it over to Ford. So where does that leave Ford? Well, Ford really wasn't that involved in all fairness as quite frankly, as claimed, it would be merely a 'badge' sponsorship deal, which you could compare to the days where Sauber was running Petronas-badged Ferrari engines. There never was a Petronas engine. It was a Ferrari, but it simply wasn't named that. So the RBPT engine is sort of the same - it's not a Ford engine, it's a rebadged engine. That said, Ford could actually say 'we will take the RBPT engines', and 'improve' them or work on them, and instead, go with Sauber, whom will be in need of a engine supplier after Audi pulls out. Another option for them is to actually go with HAAS. Or both, really. OR, it could be Andretti, who could convince Cadillac to instead of wait for 2028 to bring their own engines, to take the RBPT project, and step in F1 in 2026 with a new extra entry, or, actually take over the Sauber team instead, with Ford completely out.

I guess we'll just wait for Team Steak Sauber to appear. BTW, I have absolutely no idea what you said Kick is.....

Audi pulling out after they made custom engine rules for them would be the peak F1 thing ever.

Big car manufacturers have come and gone in the sport since it’s inception. Andretti is a racing team and will be a more committed entrant over the long term.

We are all Raudi at them

Me waiting for Sauber Andretti, please 🙂

back markers should be forced to race into the top 14 Sunday race by running on Saturday. Bottom qualifiers should have to win a Saturday race or finish top 4 to get into Sundays race.

You also can't gamble in China, but it doesnt stop them betting companies that don't exist in the UK advertise on UK football shirts

Fucking hell if VAG came up with these shitty engine regs only to pull out it'll be so annoying

Screw Audi, why can't Andretti just buy Sauber-or Haas? Why? I cannot be the only one to think of this. Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

Yeah, Mike's got a credit card steaming hot and ready!!!!

Sauber were actually third in 2007 but then McLaren was disqualified over spygate…

when the Audi rumors started I already said I hope it won't end up like the other germany manufacturers working with sauber.

if Andretti buy the Audi shares, they will keep some, but sell a significant amount of the overseas assets, and base the team in America

Oh glory the good old Swiss rule book, you can’t do 🤬 all in that country!🇨🇭

F1 wanted a VW brand (preferible Porsche) so badly they changed the rules for it. Porsche didn't want really and tried a half harted deal with Red Bull. Audi wanted the credibility they once had as Auto-Union. They took over the second hand PU project out of 2016 from Porsche and bought themselves into a backmarker. The PU project was started at a very short timeline. RBPT started one year previous but Audi had a headstart with the abandoned Porsche project. It seems to be the F1 fans are sidelined in the boardroom due to Chinese competition. It is a very wierd story. The Andretti saga is in my opinion just childish payback for not entering when F1 requested it in the period after the folding off the class of 2010. Haas said yes and I can't imagine Andretti wasn't asked back then.

If Andretti got denied only for Audi to pull out, i'll be well annoyed, but i think the rumor mill is just keeping itself busy for the last of the cold months.

I just come here for the jazz music

I wonder if the result of no new teams could lead to Andretti buying Sauber (if it ends up being sold) and telling the workforce they can either relocate to the US or they don't have a job. I wouldn't blame Andretti for this as this is what happens in Franchise model sports. Could be a bad consequence of not allowing new teams in. If all Andretti wants it seems is the entry this could be a possibility.

Moreno....Moreno...!!!

Sauber already had to change sponsor to Kick last year at certain countries, so am sure they will also drop the word Stake from their name this year in certain countries. That said, while obviously not a current country F1 visits, Turkey has just made both Kick and Twitch illegal due to gambling which is kinda weird when you consider that Twitch has got tougher on gambling since 2022. There is still a lot of ignorance about what is down to F1 itself and out of their hands as you still see people on social media saying F1 shot itself in the foot by banning tobacco sponsorship, when obviously it was not their choice. I also remember that in France had banned Red Bull for 12 years before unbanning it, which meant that they could actually still have the name on the car but could not actually bring any cans of the drink to the French GP. This is why so many of the sponsors on todays cars are brands that most people have never heard of. Financial institutions, tech companies and the like. I am surprised that crypto as a whole has not been banned as well. While not traditional gambling, buying any form of crypto or NFTs is a huge gamble and so many people have been ruined by it (Dan Kirby even took his own life due to how much he lost on crypto). As for the Audi rumours, I am not gonna put too much stock on them right now seeing as the original source was Bild.

Guarantee audi don't make it onto the grid. We've had years of rumours about audi joining as a team or engine supplier and nothing ever happens

Why does this not surprise me? No German manufacturer commits to any racing series for any length of time. Pretty sure the current Mercedes F1 team is the longest a German company has ever committed to something, and that's only 15 this year. Who knows how long they'll tolerate not winning before they quit.

why would a car manufacturer want to own and run a team anyway? selling more cars based on race wins is a bit old fashioned.

i don’t see all these plans changing just because of one bloke

The name is Seidel, not Siedel