At the launch of Audi’s 2026 F1 concept livery in Munich, new team director Jonathan Wheatley said that Sauber’s progress in 2025 was « essential » to the team’s chances of becoming more than just another midfield member of the team.
In 2024, Sauber finished last with only four points. With three rounds still to go in 2025, they have 62 points, which puts them ninth in the manufacturers’ standings but well ahead of Haas and Aston Martin.
It’s not just what happens on Sunday afternoons that Audi’s growing popularity means to people who follow both real-life F1 and its virtual spin-offs. It also connects to a larger community of F1-themed sim races and popular e-sports. Instead of guessing which sites are safe or serious about coverage, they look for a clear breakdown of licensed esports bookmakers – see details for a curated overview. It’s useful for F1 fans because it lets them weigh risk and value using the same data-driven reasoning they use to decide on strategy, lap times, and long-run pace.
From Last Place to a Fairy-Tale Silverstone Podium
At the 2025 British Grand Prix, Nico Hülkenberg started in 19th place and somehow led the Sauber to third place. It was his first F1 podium finish and the team’s first top-three finish since 2012.
Some important facts about that race show how far the project has come. Hülkenberg’s podium finish in wet conditions came after a string of steady points that had moved Sauber from the bottom of the standings earlier in the year. Results like his fifth-place finish in Spain showed that the changes were finally paying off.
By the middle of the season, all of Sauber’s early points had come from Hülkenberg. This supported Audi’s choice to pair a battle-tested veteran with a rookie, Gabriel Bortoleto, as it builds a works team that can win the championship.
In 2024, when they were running the C44 as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, the same organization barely made it to the end of the year with just four points. They scored late in Qatar after 22 races without scoring, and they ended very last in the constructors’ table. The car was called unreliable and fundamentally wrong, even in technical writing that wasn’t critical.
Why Wheatley Calls Momentum “Absolutely Vital”
The Munich event this week was more than a livery launch. It was the first time Audi presented its future F1 operation to the world as a unified project. Wheatley stood on stage alongside Audi F1 project head Mattia Binotto, CEO Gernot Döllner, and race drivers Hülkenberg and Bortoleto.
The team needs a clear culture and a results trend pointing in the right direction before the 2026 regulations land. That’s what Wheatley was hammering home in Munich and in subsequent interviews. He’s talked about carrying this momentum through 2025 to be “championship challengers at the end of the decade”, explicitly linking Sauber’s current form to Audi’s long-term ambitions.
He also said that the team is already working « like Audi » and not just wearing different colors. This is a small but important difference when you’re trying to convince sponsors, staff, and drivers that this is more than just a rebrand.
Bortoleto’s Brutal Home Weekend Shows the Human Side of the Project
If Hülkenberg’s Silverstone was a fairy tale, Gabriel Bortoleto’s first home race at Interlagos was a nightmare.
The 21-year-old Brazilian had two bad accidents during the São Paulo dash and Grand Prix. He hit the wet part of the pit straight, slammed into the pit wall, briefly went airborne, and then hit the other barrier with an impact of about 57g during the sprint. He was following Alexander Albon. He was taken to the hospital but was okay.
In Sunday’s race, he hit the wall on the first lap after a crash with Lance Stroll. This caused the first safety car to appear, which ended his home Grand Prix before it even started.
Video from the paddock showed Bortoleto crying and holding on to family members after the second accident. These pictures have been shared a lot since then, and one broadcaster’s words about them have even caused a stir.
In public, Wheatley has tried to protect his rookie driver by telling him that he « has to push and make mistakes now » if he wants to be a future title contender. He has also said that the team worked hard in Brazil to handle as much home-race pressure as possible.
If Audi wants to promote its F1 team as a modern, digitally fluent brand, it can’t ignore the overlap between the real paddock, sim racing, and the regulated betting and iGaming area that sits around both. However, the most significant figure remains on the constructors’ table for the time being. 62 points, up from four, demonstrates that the new silver-and-red Audi that was displayed in Munich will inherit a team that is already headed in the right direction.
