Rueda joins Sauber from Ferrari amid Audi F1 team building

Sauber, who will become the Audi factory team in 2026, announced the news on Wednesday ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix at Sao Paulo's Interlagos circuit.

The Swiss-based team said Rueda will take over from Beat Zehnder, who has been with Sauber since the 1980s and moves to the heritage side of the company: "In his new position, Rueda will be responsible for overseeing all sporting activities, managing the relationship with the FIA and all regulations matters trackside."

Former head of track engineering Giampaolo Dall'Ara, who had left to run his own consultancy, returns as head of race engineering.

Binotto started at Sauber in August, after decades at Ferrari, as Chief Operating and Chief Technical Officer with Jonathan Wheatley due to join from Red Bull next year as principal.

Iñaki, was born in Madrid on 6 August 1978. He grew up in a family that was keen on rallying and that instilled in him a love of motorsport. He raced in motocross from 1991 to 1999 while from 1997 to 2003, he studied and worked at the University of Colorado, graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, specialising in Dynamic Controls and Systems.

Keen to work in Formula 1, Rueda completed a motorsport masters degree at Cranfield University, UK. Shortly after that, he worked for McLaren Electronics but he was keen to work at the race track and so in 2005, he joined Jordan Grand Prix, which then became Midland, as a Systems Engineer. In 2006, in this same role, he joined the Renault team.

In 2011, the team was renamed Lotus and Iñakiwas appointed Race Strategy Engineer, a role he kept until 2014. At the end of that season, he joined Scuderia Ferrari as Head of Race Strategy. From the 2021 season he is Head of Race Strategy and Sporting.

Iñaki’s main hobby is still motocross. However, his greatest passion is his work, being at the race track, especially on Sundays when it’s time to go racing.