Bottom of the Formula 1 constructors’ standings and without a point all season, the Sauber team is facing a forlorn final 10 races when the campaign recommences at Zandvoort at the end of August.
Out developed and outperformed by backmarker rivals Williams and Haas over the course of the past two seasons, the good news is that the Swiss outfit will only race in F1 for 18 months more in its current guise, before its new owners Audi rebrand the squad and take to the grid for the first time from 2026 onwards.
The behemoth Volkswagen brand will bring far greater resource than Sauber has ever before been able to muster, as well as a works power unit project, but will start from a very weak position and cannot reasonably expect to be in any kind of winning position in its first few seasons in the top tier of motorsport.
Audi may not make its formal entry until 2026, but it already wields control over Sauber’s long-term decision making, including signing the experienced safe pair of hands Nico Hulkenberg as its first driver on a multi-year deal from 2025 onwards.
Nico Hulkenberg will leave Haas at the end of the 2024 season
Neither of current racers Zhou Guanyu or Valtteri Bottas have been renewed beyond the upcoming winter, and a succession of highly-rated but unproven young drivers like Liam Lawson, Theo Pourchaire and Gabriel Bortoleto have been linked with the vacancy which remains alongside Hulkenberg.
Opting for a more youthful, promising option alongside the consistent if limited Hulkenberg would certainly be a smart long-term decision, especially with the German turning 39 during Audi’s debut campaign in 2026. But none of the three names linked to the second seat are entirely convincing.
There is an argument, then, that Audi should attempt something far more bold and unlikely. This is why they should attempt to lure four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel back to Formula 1.
Why would Audi benefit from signing Sebastian Vettel?
Audi have recently restructured key personnel ahead of their F1 entry
Let’s clear one thing up before we get going, here. This move is extremely unlikely, verging on impossible. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of logic behind the concept. And it’s the summer break, after all, so let’s allow ourselves the opportunity to daydream.
What a brand which is newly joining the grid and starting towards the very back needs are two things: a big marketing push which helps them draw as much attention and finance as possible, and exceptionally strong feedback on the car’s performance so that it can be developed quickly and efficiently.
Vettel’s prestige and unparalleled experience means he offers both in bucket loads. This is a driver who has led the Red Bull, Ferrari and Aston Martin teams under huge pressure and has helped take all three forward.
With a revamped hierarchy of personnel, Audi will need to be able to build strong relationships based on mutual trust very quickly. Given Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley has been lured away and given the team principal role, and former Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has been brought in as CEO, who better than to put their plans into action on track than Vettel, who worked directly with both for years during his spells with their former teams?
Vettel’s performances in F1 tailed off significantly in his later years, his final season with Ferrari in particular representing a low ebb in a career which peaked early before F1’s switch to turbo-hybrid engines in 2014.
But nobody at Audi would expect Vettel to deliver them a title or even race wins. And the change in regulations coming in 2026 will overhaul the way F1 power units are built, meaning Vettel could perhaps find them more to his liking than the turbo-hybrids which he never truly mastered to the same degree as long-time rival Lewis Hamilton.
Vettel has not raced full-time in another series since his F1 departure
This all, of course, hinges on Vettel firstly being wiling to return from the retirement he took at the end of 2022, and being tempted by the Audi project.
Vettel insisted that he wanted to spend more time with his wife and children rather than spending the majority of the year away from home, and also told BBC Question Time that he felt like a 'hypocrite' for combining his environmental activism with motor racing.
Those are pretty robust reasons to walk away, then. But if anything were ever going to entice him back, the Audi project could have plenty of appeal.
First and foremost, Vettel said earlier this year that a return 'might be appealing and interesting' and that he does not feel too old to race in F1 again. At 37, he is two years younger than Hamilton and five years off the age of Fernando Alonso, who replaced him at Aston Martin.
Audi’s Hinwil F1 headquarters is around an hour’s drive from Vettel’s home in Thurgau, Switzerland, meaning his family time would be less compromised if he were to make a comeback compared to any other team.
Furthermore, though Audi would not be able to offer Vettel a shot at winning a fifth world championship, they could sell their proposition to him on the basis that he could follow in the footsteps of his personal hero Michael Schumacher.
Schumacher retired from F1 for four years before returning for a three-year spell with Mercedes between 2010 and 2012 when they joined the grid after taking over the Brawn GP team.
In a similar position to the one Vettel would be with Audi, Schumacher only earned one podium with the team and never rediscovered anything approaching the best of his form, but was able to help the laying of the foundations which eventually led to Mercedes’ era of dominance between 2014 and 2021. The idea of contributing to a longer-term plan would be a big part of the sell to Vettel.
Vettel could follow in Schumacher's footsteps
Vettel would of course be paid a fortune by Audi to race for two or three more years, too, and he could perhaps move into a team leadership role behind the scenes once his racing career did finally come to a permanent end.
Even if this hypothetical were to play out, Audi are not joining the grid for another season-and-a-half, so perhaps Bottas would need to be re-signed for one more year before Vettel’s stunning return was confirmed for 2026.
In reality, of course, the prospect is extremely likely. But Audi would be foolish to not at least pose the question to Vettel and find out if there is any possibility of reigniting the career of one of F1’s most popular modern champions.
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