Do you think Mercedes and McLaren are packing the punch on Red Bull right now? Well, the situation is going to be way harder in 2026 when Audi comes in as a promising power unit. The German manufacturers will debut in Formula 1 as 100% owners of the current Sauber team. And to make sure their efforts reap well, Audi has secured contracts with two of the biggest names from the top 2 teams in F1—Mattia Binotto of Ferrari and Jonathan Wheatley of Red Bull.

Currently reigning in the World Championship, Red Bull has lost two key players in months. First off, it was Adrian Newey who revealed his plan to exit from the Milton-Keynes outfit in early 2025. And now, the RBR Sporting Director has shared his decision to leave for Audi next year as well. While this is not at all good news for Red Bull, Audi has only gained further strength from Wheatley’s decision since the team has now found its new leader.

Only a few weeks ago, Audi’s former Team Principal Andreas Seidl announced an abrupt exit from the team. Instead of letting that come in the way of its dream F1 entry, the team has poached a powerful official from the current World Championship-winning squad. And with this, the Audi CEO, Gernot Döllner, has shot a warning to all the future rival teams of the German outfit. He said to the Audi MediaCenter, “With the appointment of Jonathan and Mattia, we have taken a decisive step towards our entry into Formula 1.”

Gernot Döllner also said, “I am convinced that with the two of them, we have been able to combine an extremely high level of competence for Audi. Their experience and their ability will help us to get a foothold quickly in the tough competitive world of Formula 1.” But despite such big names as Wheatley and Binotto joining Audi, there are no reports on how the team’s F1 project is coming along. Some rumors claimed Audi was eyeing to sign Carlos Sainz as their 2026 recruit.

But the Spaniard has already chosen a multi-year offer from Williams. What did F1 pundit Craig Slater say about this?

Craig Slater believes Carlos Sainz ditching Audi is a bad omen

Carlos Sainz recently joined Williams even though his father won the Dakar Rally 2024 with Audi. While several reports claimed Sainz Jr. might go to Sauber and wait for Audi’s 2026 F1 debut, that was not the case. According to F1 pundit and SkySports commentator Craig Slater, this shows how Carlos might have thought Audi’s start in F1 would be a shaky one.

Craig said, “I think it’s a vote of no confidence for Sauber Audi.”

“When you think about the family connection with Sainz, [you see] Carlos Sr. winning Dakar with Audi. For him [Carlos Sainz] to walk away from that when it seemed the most obvious place for him to go is a clear sign that things are not right.” But even though Carlos Sainz might have gone for Williams now, he might take an exit from the legacy team, soon enough, if he sees good progress from Audi regarding their F1 preparedness.

If Carlos Sainz had waited just a bit longer, the news of Audi recruiting Red Bull veteran Jonathan Wheatley would’ve come out. This might have turned things around, as the Spaniard would have seen how serious the German manufacturer was about going into F1.

Do you think Wheatley taking the reins at Audi would have influenced Carlos Sainz to join Sauber?