Neuburg, July 23 : Audi have announced former Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto as the new boss of their Formula 1 project on Tuesday. Earlier this year German car maker Audi took full ownership of the Sauber team, which will be run under the Audi banner from 2026, with an all-new power unit currently being developed in-house in Germany.

Binotto, 54, will take charge of the operation on August 1 as Chief Operating and Chief Technical Officer, based at the Sauber factory in Hinwil, Switzerland. He will report directly to the board of directors.

In the restructuring, former McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl, who joined Sauber in January 2023 as CEO of the Audi team, is departing, along with Audi executive Oliver Hoffmann, who was overseeing the project. Binotto served as Chief Technical Officer at Ferrari before being promoted to Team Principal in 2019. He left the role in 2022 after three years and had been with the Scuderia since the mid-1990s.

'I am delighted that we have been able to recruit Mattia Binotto for our ambitious Formula 1 project,' said Audi CEO Gernot Dollner. 'With his extensive experience of more than 25 years in Formula 1, he will undoubtedly be able to make a decisive contribution to Audi.'

Explaining the restructure, Dollner added: 'Our aim is to bring the entire Formula 1 project up to F1 speed by means of clear management structures, defined responsibilities, reduced interfaces, and efficient decision-making processes. For this purpose, the team must be able to act independently and quickly.

'I would like to thank Oliver and Andreas for their important work in establishing our entry into Formula 1 and their commitment to preparing it,' he said.

Nico Hulkenberg, who will leave Haas at the conclusion of the season to join Kick Sauber, is the first driver confirmed to be a part of Audi's team. The German driver called the move 'interesting' and 'very exciting'.

Since 2022, Chinese racer Zhou Guanyu and Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas have represented the Hinwil team; however, when the current campaign concludes, it is unclear what lies ahead for either driver.

/IANS