2025 Stake F1 Team Sauber

[Vanja #66]

Team: Stake F1 Team Sauber
Base: Hinwil, Zurich, Switzerland

CTO: Mattia Binotto
Technical director: James Key

Race drivers:
Gabriel Bortoleto 5
Nico Hülkenberg 27

Chassis: C45
Engine: Ferrari V6 Turbo

This thread is to discuss the 2025 Stake F1 Team Sauber

[lio007]

Jonathan Wheatley is comming a bit earlier: https://racingnews365.com/red-bull-conf ... eam-member

A team spokesperson confirmed to RacingNews365 that Wheatley would be joining Sauber on April 1st, 2025.

[DJ Downforce]

Let's hope they fire James Key soon

[frosty125]

Let's hope they fire James Key soon

Will he make it to the first race?

[trinidefender]

Let's hope they fire James Key soon

I’ve been wondering about him for quite some time. While I don’t have anything concrete to go on other than his results with McLaren previously and Sauber now I can’t help but feel that he isn’t the right guy for the job. Maybe he's a great engineer but not as great as leading an engineering team.

His stint at Torro Rosso is hard to read because of the relationship they have with Red Bull might make things better or worse depending. His stint at McLaren was fairly atrocious concerning car design which I don’t think had anything to do with the design team around him as shown by the turnaround made within season almost immediately by the same design team. There was the accusation that he sidelined people in McLaren and didn’t give people the design freedom that they deserved. It was also said during his time that McLaren car had a bad aero and suspension relationship which is more important in this rules cycle than previously. I wonder if this same disconnect has been brought to Sauber.

Now coming onto Sauber the car is both slow and hard to drive. If it was slow but easy to drive then at least it can be assumed that the engineering team can add downforce throughout the season probably at the cost of drive ability.

It can be said that the team simply doesn’t have the investment or facilities, as the change in Audi management might be trying to divest, but from my understanding their wind tunnel is still considered fairly modern, not sure about driver in loop simulator or other infrastructure investments.

This brings me back to James Key. The car seems very “detailed” (just look at the wing mirrors) but still doesn’t work which to me means the design team is too focused on details but missing the bigger picture on overall car concept and design. I can’t help but wonder that’s a result of his management or not. It’s hard to ignore his track record, or lack of I should say.

I’ve listened to a few interviews with him from various teams and to me he doesn’t sound very confidence inspiring, if he is at work how he is in interviews I don’t think I’d like to work under him.

From what little I can observe I don’t think he’s the right man for the job at Sauber.

[Waz]

If James Key was a driver, he'd be Danni Ricciardo. Promising early career, decent results after a team change and then unable to find any form again.

[mzso]

Things look dire for Sauber, yet again. Hülkenberg can't catch a lucky break.

[zeroday]

Fook it...i'm gonna go buy some of their merch. Surely, every day is an on-sale day.

[continuum16]

Things look dire for Sauber, yet again. Hülkenberg can't catch a lucky break.

I feel like Hulk might already regret this decision. He jumped ship from Haas right before they got things sorted out and also before they had the Toyota connection that gave them a path up the grid in the short-to-medium term. And the people who signed him at Sauber aren't even there anymore (Seidl and co.) so he's already not getting what he signed up for. Other than perhaps a big paycheck. I think Sainz rejecting them, even with Binotto who clearly liked him at Ferrari in charge, was a damning sign for the future. I also don't know why they didn't throw the entire bank account at someone like Newey.

Bottas said that after Vasseur left there was no plan and that is more and more evident by the week. I hope they get off to a decent start in 2026 or I could easily see VW pulling the plug in a few years.

[DJ Downforce]

Let's hope they fire James Key soon

I’ve been wondering about him for quite some time. While I don’t have anything concrete to go on other than his results with McLaren previously and Sauber now I can’t help but feel that he isn’t the right guy for the job. Maybe he's a great engineer but not as great as leading an engineering team.

His stint at Torro Rosso is hard to read because of the relationship they have with Red Bull might make things better or worse depending. His stint at McLaren was fairly atrocious concerning car design which I don’t think had anything to do with the design team around him as shown by the turnaround made within season almost immediately by the same design team. There was the accusation that he sidelined people in McLaren and didn’t give people the design freedom that they deserved. It was also said during his time that McLaren car had a bad aero and suspension relationship which is more important in this rules cycle than previously. I wonder if this same disconnect has been brought to Sauber.

Now coming onto Sauber the car is both slow and hard to drive. If it was slow but easy to drive then at least it can be assumed that the engineering team can add downforce throughout the season probably at the cost of drive ability.

It can be said that the team simply doesn’t have the investment or facilities, as the change in Audi management might be trying to divest, but from my understanding their wind tunnel is still considered fairly modern, not sure about driver in loop simulator or other infrastructure investments.

This brings me back to James Key. The car seems very “detailed” (just look at the wing mirrors) but still doesn’t work which to me means the design team is too focused on details but missing the bigger picture on overall car concept and design. I can’t help but wonder that’s a result of his management or not. It’s hard to ignore his track record, or lack of I should say.

I’ve listened to a few interviews with him from various teams and to me he doesn’t sound very confidence inspiring, if he is at work how he is in interviews I don’t think I’d like to work under him.

From what little I can observe I don’t think he’s the right man for the job at Sauber.

I knew their 2025 car would be god awful and I was right! He's a terrible technical leader and should be fired like he was from McLaren. Just look at the onboards - horrific to drive whilst being draggy with little downforce.

Bravo

[DJ Downforce]

Also spectators and journalists need to stop with the complete rubbish of "they're waiting for Audi". That's now excuse for their performance right now!!

Audi isn't going to come in, wave a magic wand and solve structural issues, management issues and a lack of technical knowledge. That'll be staying with them - and if the Audi engine is cr*p then they might not even make the 107% rule.

So stop saying Audi will fix anything, the problem is James Key - get rid of him and you don't need Audi.

[Waz]

The 24 car was terrible, and even Red Bull and Aston Martin have put very little resources into the 25 c ar.

Even if forward momentum was sorely needed for morale, it's hard to justify wasting money and time on a car that has little chance of improving beyond 9th.

It does look like Audi are taking a pragmatic approach and will field a basic car for 2026 and see what the rest do.

[mvfad]

Helmut Marko recently made an interview saying that Bortoleto was a "B" driver. That he didn't see speed in him, that he was a driver who only did the basics.

That was Bortoleto's response (Google Translate):

"I don't care. I saw what he said and I love challenges. And I think, hearing this from Helmut, he's a guy who has put a lot of talented guys in Formula 1 and he's put a lot of bad talent in F1. So you can see that he's been right and wrong"…

"And I hope to prove him wrong over time. But there's nothing I can say now in the media that will change his mind. Only my results on the track. And I'm sure I'll prove him wrong at some point. And I hope he'll admit it when I prove him wrong. But for now, I'm just focusing on doing my job, improving and doing the best I can."…

"I'm proud of what I've done in the junior categories. I've won in F2 and F3 against the Red Bull drivers he has. So it's all good for me."…

Source: https://www.uol.com.br/esporte/colunas/ ... ritica.htm