Mattia Binotto has spent 30 years inside Formula 1's most emotional institution. Now, as the man charged with turning Audi into a championship team, he has set a deadline that sounds almost reckless given where the project stands today: a title fight by 2030.
Speaking on the F1 Beyond The Grid podcast, the Audi CEO and team principal was candid about the scale of what he has taken on at the former Sauber operation in Hinwil. The hardest part, he insists, is not the buildings or the headcount — it is rewiring how an entire workforce thinks.
"It's about transforming a team, it's not only building," Binotto said. "You need to change people's mindset, approach and behaviours to what's required. That's really the most difficult challenge — it's about culture transformation."
He pointed to a squad that, for two decades, was conditioned to survive rather than win. "For many years, maybe 20 or 30 years, you were used simply not to spend. Now you need to change that mentality," he explained. "That's the most difficult challenge we have at the moment."
The target itself was set in public, on the grid at Monza in 2024, alongside Audi CEO Gernot Döllner. Binotto knows how distant 2030 sounds in a sport that demands instant results.
"In F1 everything has to happen immediately — fans' expectations, partners' expectations, shareholders' expectations," he said. "Five or six seasons is a long time. I know it's a very challenging one, but I believe it's possible. It's not that we simply put an objective ahead just to have more time. I believe that by 2030 we can do it."
There will be no superstar shortcut. Asked whether Audi needed an Adrian Newey-style figure to close the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari, Binotto was firm.
"No, we will grow internally," he said. "Today the complexity of an F1 vehicle, from the power unit to the chassis, is such that we don't believe a single person will make the difference. It will be more a team effort." The investment, he added, is deliberately in youth: "If you come today to our team in Hinwil or in Neuburg, the average age is very, very young. I'm the oldest."
The early returns on the chassis side have surprised even him. "I'm very pleased by the chassis," Binotto said. "We believe that maybe we are even the fourth team in terms of chassis, which is an outstanding result." The deficit, he conceded, lies elsewhere. "Maybe the biggest gap is from the power-unit performance, controls and drivability. We believe that cannot be possible by '27, but to reach the right level by '28" — a frank admission that the engine, not the car, is Audi's longest lead-time problem.
That honesty extended to the sport's most coveted free agent. With Max Verstappen's future a constant paddock subplot, Binotto ruled Audi out — for now. "No, we are not [in discussions], and the reason why is that we are not yet ready for it as a team," he said. "If Max would join, you need to offer him a platform where he can fight for victories."
He is, instead, content with his current pairing. Of Nico Hülkenberg, 38, he said: "He's always very honest, transparent, funny. No politics. He loves driving and he's good in driving" — adding that the veteran "has got a lot of fuel in his tank still." Of 21-year-old Gabriel Bortoleto, Binotto sees a champion's temperament: "Humble, but with very high ambition. He's got the full ambition to become a champion one day."
As for celebrating that elusive first win, Binotto laughed off racing director Allan McNish's promise of a tattoo. "No, no tattoo, sorry for that," he said. "But I will enjoy the moment. I'm looking forward to it."
Source: youtube.com