Audi CEO Breaks Silence After Helmut Marko’s Comments of a Mega-Money Carlos Sainz Offer

Carlos Sainz is yet to pick a seat for 2025 as Ferrari has decided to say farewell to the Spaniard. Speculations as to where he will be moving to have been the talk around the paddocks. His current performance is quite impressive and he is in the contingency to win a world championship title. Although the gap to Verstappen is significant, him getting into a stronger car than the SF24 might bring different results.

Now you must be thinking, the only car that is faster than the SF24 is the Red Bull RB20, and you will be right. However, when rumors of Sainz moving back to Milton Keynes started to surface, Helmut Marko made a claim that they would not want to counter Audi’s generous offer. Despite Audi having the resources, the team’s CEO came forth to explain the trajectory the team is moving on, clearing out all claims by the Red Bull Director.

Andreas Seidl opens up about the plans for Audi

To “Become a top team as quickly as possible” is Andreas Seidl’s, the CEO of Audi, goal in Formula 1. Helmut Marko claimed that Audi has made “a very good offer from Audi for three years, but he [Carlos Sainz] has to make a decision relatively soon.” According to Auto-Motor-Und-Sport when Andreas Seidl was asked, “One name that keeps cropping up is Carlos Sainz. Helmut Marko said at the Chinese GP that Red Bull cannot keep up with Audi’s offer. Is there any truth to that?”

To that, Seidl responded, “Our approach is clearly not to motivate drivers or other employees to come to us with huge sums of money.” He explained that despite having the resources, they would like to have passionate people within the team. Further stating, “We basically have the financial means of a top team, but we really think about how we can use every franc or euro sensibly and efficiently. We want to attract people who want to be part of this journey and accompany Audi’s entry into Formula 1.”

According to Seidl, Audi’s entry into Formula 1 should be looked at an exciting thing. Drivers should want to be a part of the Audi experience without the main reason for the relationship being money is what they believe. The team will come prepared with enough funds to buy out and put together a strong team, but their emphasis is on building a team that survives and sustains in the sport. As a new team, the boss wants to practice efficiency over a grand entry into the sport. That being said, Audi have a lot more planned in store.

How close has the Audi project reached to Formula 1?

Currently, the Audi team is testing their engineering on the tracks. Led by Adam Baker, the project progress on the driver side has advanced significantly since it began in 2022. The infrastructure was planed at the Audi Formula Racing GmbH.

Seidl stated, “In 2023, testing of all components for the drive unit began. As of today, the team and infrastructure are largely in place. On the team side at Sauber in Hinwil, we have used the last few months to work with the team to find out where the deficits lie compared to the top teams in Formula 1.”

He explained how he had devised a clear plan to transform the team from a private one to the top one on the pecking order. Concluding his statement he said, “We set up project teams at an early stage in order to optimally network the two locations and thus fully exploit the potential of a factory team in the future. I am confident that we will achieve our goal.”

Do you think Audi will be a competitive team within its early years of F1? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.