Audi reveals plans for new F1 team base

Audi is developing a new Formula 1 “campus” close to Sauber’s long-standing Swiss headquarters, which will be repurposed.

The German manufacturer rebranded Sauber fully in the Audi name this year after gradually taking over the company ahead of its works F1 team debut.

Sauber’s Hinwil facility remained Audi's base of operations, and the place where the first Audi F1 car was designed and built, while the first Audi engine was developed at a new facility in Neuburg, Germany.

Audi recognised early on that Sauber’s infrastructure needed significant investment, though.

It has opted to build a new campus “less than one kilometre” from the current facility, which Audi says will be redeveloped as the team’s manufacturing centre and windtunnel operation.

Some elements of the new campus were already made operational this summer but its full development will not be complete until 2030.

Even with the new campus up and running, Audi intends to retain the satellite technical centre it established in Bicester, in the UK, to attract personnel who would not relocate full-time to Switzerland.

But Audi F1 CEO Mattia Binotto said “the campus will play an important role in helping us attract and retain world-class talent while providing the foundations required to achieve our long-term ambitions”.

“The best engineers, designers, mechanics and specialists want to work in an environment that allows them to collaborate, innovate and perform at their highest level,” he said.

“The campus will help us create exactly that environment.”