Sauber poach Former Mercedes Engineer

Sauber explained in a statement that Strähnz joins them after a stint at Mercedes to take over the "newly created position of Programme Director".

The team who in 2026 will become Audi's F1 factory team also confirmed that the new director will join on October 1, 2024 and "will report directly to CEO, Andreas Seidl".

The statement added: "Strähnz brings to the table more than 20 years' experience in F1, in which he worked for Toyota, BAR, Renault and Lotus, and enjoyed an incredible level of success as part of the Mercedes team, for which he worked for nearly 13 years.

"In this time, he held various engineering roles, before moving into technical management and leadership positions, eventually transitioning to operational and organisational strategy development and implementation.

"In these roles, Strähnz specialised in developing, simplifying and driving the delivery of complex and time-critical programmes, acquiring crucial experience that will be put to good use as Sauber Motorsport undergoes its transformation into the Audi factory team."

Andreas Seidl, CEO of Sauber Group: "I am delighted to welcome Stefan to the team, and I am sure that he will bring an incredible amount of experience from his previous roles, in which he won multiple races and championships, to further complement and strengthen our leadership team. With his unique experience, Stefan will play a vital role in driving the team's overall effectiveness and prepare us on our journey to full finance regulation optimisation as we become the Audi F1 factory team. Working closely with myself, the management team and all our expanding technical, operational and finance departments, Stefan's main mission is to deliver fully streamlined and optimised F1 car programmes, from concept through to track introduction."

Stefan Strähnz, Programme Director of Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber: "I am immensely proud and excited to join the talented people at Sauber Motorsport on our exciting journey to become the Audi F1 factory team in 2026. I have experienced a similar journey in my previous roles, and I will be applying all my learnings and energy into this new and challenging programme to develop the required tools, processes and culture for sustainable long-term on- and off-track success. It is a true privilege to join such an iconic brand as Audi with all its previous technology and motorsport achievements. I look forward to taking a leadership role in our ambitious targets to win championships in F1."