Sauber Team Representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi has stated the team will continue to add Formula 1 personnel ahead of the planned Audi takeover in 2026.
Following BMW’s sale of the Hinwil-based outfit at the end of 2009, Sauber had endured several years of financial uncertainty before Finn Rausing purchased the back marker in 2017.
Rausing and title partner Alfa Romeo enabled Sauber to gain financial sustainability and grow staff numbers extensively in the six subsequent years.
While the team is just a few years away from transitioning into a works Audi entry, Alunni Bravi has stressed that Sauber isn’t resting on its laurels when it comes to recruitment.
“We have undertaken an important recruitment plan,” Bravi told Autosport.
“Of course, the result of the plan will be more visible in the next few years, because with every new appointment normally you have a gardening leave period to join a competitor.
“So we started with the recruitment.
“Of course, we will ramp up our structure, both in terms of head counts, in terms of technology, in the next few years because all the investment that needs to be made and put in place requires also a bit of time.
“I always said that, financially speaking, there was no problem.
“We started our journey in 2017 when I joined the team with Fred Vasseur [now Ferrari Team Principal].
“We were around 220 people, and we have reached more than 500 people this year, and we will take a step in terms of headcount also next year.
“But it’s a process that takes time, and each year there is a plan to expand our departments, our facilities, and of course, our staff.”
Given the team is heading toward a future with Audi as the controlling entity, Bravi has stated that between Sauber and the German marque there has been “a normal dynamic between the two shareholders where all the investment plan for the future until 2030 at least is in discussion.
“And we are just working according to the governance in place,” he continued.
“Of course, the governance will change according to the different steps in terms of acquisition that Audi will take.
“This is normal, as in any company where you have two shareholders.”
In F1’s cost cap era, growing staff numbers and investing in infrastructure must be done within the regulations, but helping Sauber is the recent revision in capex spending.
The revision sees Sauber, along with Haas, Williams and AlphaTauri granted an extra $20 million (totalling $65 million) in capex spending across 2021, ’22, ’23 and ’24.
Bravi has stated that the capex spending reform will allow Sauber to “accelerate” its “investment plan.
“But as always this is a technology sport,” Bravi issued. “So we need time. We need to take the right decisions.
“And this is why [Sauber CEO] Andreas [Seidl] is fully focused, of course, on the transformation process as our leader of the team to allocate the budget when it’s necessary, when it’s more performance-related.”
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