Formula 1: Why Audi missed out on a star driver for 2026

When Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari was announced in February, it unfortunately put Carlos Sainz Jr. out of a seat for the 2025 Formula 1 season. With lots of demand for his signature, nearly every team with an open seat was after the Spaniard.

Sauber, which plan to become Audi in 2026, had been considered a top candidate for the 29-year-old even before the Hamilton announcement.

But despite strong rumors dating back to the summer of 2023, the move simply never progressed after Sainz reportedly rejected the Audi project a few months ago, and he ultimately signed with Williams.

Things are not going well for Audi behind the scenes.

Not long ago, reports emerged suggesting that the current state of things for Audi is not ideal, with their Formula 1 project having faced quite a few difficulties.

These difficulties could have driven Sainz away. Apparent issues with those leading the project have already led to a few management changes, namely the departure of Andreas Seidl and the arrival of Mattia Binotto.

Someone well aware of the current situation has said that Audi are facing quite a turmoil behind the scenes, to the point where the “team can’t even put a wheel on a car properly at the moment.”

With only about 18 months before Audi’s first session of preseason testing is scheduled to get underway, there is certainly cause for concern regarding their viability in Formula 1. Despite their successes in several other areas of motorsport, their chances of struggling seem better than their chances of thriving at the moment.

In their pursuit of Sainz's signature, they lost quite a bit of time and potentially missed out on many other available drivers as well. Sauber, still the only scoreless team on the grid in 2024, are currently stuck in a position where they have limited options to choose from, and Audi may not be competitive right from the beginning in 2026 regardless of whom they sign to pair with Nico Hulkenberg.

Sainz’s reasoning for turning down Audi after the project was presented to him was likely due to a combination of all these factors, causing a worry over potentially wasting any time with a lack of results.