Audi Formula 1 COO and CTO Mattia Binotto admits that there is “much to do” to turn around the fortunes of what is currently the Sauber team.
Binotto arrived in Hinwil in his new dual role on August 1, although that was soon followed by the two-week summer break.
Despite his limited opportunity to fully understand the task the team faces Binotto already knows that it will be a big challenge.
“Certainly, there is much to do,” the Italian said at Monza. “I think that’s no doubt the first feedback.
“We are competing against teams that now since many years in F1. The big organisations settle down. It’s not our case. We need to ramp up in terms of people, in terms of our organisation, in terms of tools, process, methodologies, facilities.
“We need to merge, certainly, what we’re doing in Hinwil, together with what we are doing in Neuberg on the powertrain. And it’s about as well culture and mindset.
“Because to become a winning team, it’s about changing our mindset towards what is required, and while there are great people there, I think that it’s a real business transformation. And we know how long may take a business transformation.”
Regarding the timescale for finding success Binotto said: “If we look back at other teams having opened a winning cycle, it took always several years to become the winning team for an entire cycle.
“So it has been the case, I know it perfectly myself, of Ferrari. I joined myself in ’95, Jean Todt was there since ’93, but the first constructors title was in ’99, and the drivers’ in 2000. But after as well, it has been the case for Red Bull or Mercedes, it took always several years.
“And I think that’s what we are facing now. We know that we are starting from a small entity. We need a clear business transformation from the culture and mindset point of view, but in all the aspects.
“And we need to simply step-by-step, move, taking the right decisions, looking for the right solutions, and having a clear objective ahead of us in a few years’ time, to become really a winning team and the benchmark for F1.”
Binotto is adamant that it has the support is needs from the parent company.
“I’ve been convinced by the project,” he said. “I’ve been convinced by the people, I’ve been convinced by the resources we’ve got available, and I’ve been convinced by the board and by Gernot Dollner, because I know that there is the support of the full brand and the full corporate.
“And that was, for me the most, the most important thing.”
