Sauber are having a very disappointing 2024 Formula 1 season and while the exciting prospect of evolving into the Audi works team is on the horizon, they still have 18 months of work to do before that happens.
Audi have taken full ownership of the team now and their head of Formula 1 Andreas Seidl is leading the way to form their driver pairing for next season.
It appears as though Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu are outside bets to retain their seats with Nico Hulkenberg already signed up for next year.
Sauber will be more and more pleased with that decision with every race that goes by after Hulkenberg achieved his best finish since 2019 at the Austrian Grand Prix and at one point believed he was even faster than Max Verstappen.
However, the task to fill that second seat has rumbled on and is proving trickier than first expected.
Journalist Julianne Cerasoli was speaking on the UOL Esporte YouTube channel after the race in Austria about their pursuit of a second driver.
Audi have been desperate to sign Carlos Sainz from Ferrari for some time but they seem less and less likely to convince the Spaniard that he should follow in his father’s footsteps to race for them.
Instead, Seidl has turned to Red Bull and asked them for a driver for next year.
Unfortunately, they were turned down in their approach for their preferred target – Liam Lawson – with Red Bull instead offering them another young driver in their stable; Isack Hadjar.
The French teenager is one of the title challengers in Formula 2 this year but sees his pathway to F1 within the Red Bull set-up very congested at this stage in his career.
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Audi offered chance to hire Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar for 2025 season
Talking about Sauber’s search for a second driver for next season, Cerasoli said: “Sauber, which is a team at the bottom of the championship this year, but they are in a moment of transition as they become Audi in 2026.
“By 2025, they wanted a strong and experienced duo. So, Audi’s first choice was Carlos Sainz to partner [Nico] Hulkenberg which is already confirmed.
“Sainz said no to Audi, [Esteban] Ocon said no to Audi, and now they have a big problem.
“What I found out here is that Andreas Seidl, who is head of the Audi operation, even went to Red Bull and said, ‘Look, could you give us someone from your youth program for us to use?’
“And they said, ‘Yes, of course, but not Liam Lawson. If you want, you can take Isack Hadjar’, who is next in the line of succession.
“He’s a driver with flashes of speed but is also a driver with a super short fuse and he doesn’t have the necessary maturity to debut in Formula 1 at the moment.
“So that possibility was aside.”
Cerasoli then went on to say that Seidl have also approached Alpine as he was interested in signing Jack Doohan if the French team end up hiring Carlos Sainz for next year.
Who is Red Bull’s next promising young driver Isack Hadjar?
Isack Hadjar is the latest youngster coming through the ranks at Red Bull and has had a very impressive junior career.
The 19-year-old holds French and Algerian dual nationality and was signed up to the Red Bull academy in 2021.
He had just finished 3 in French Formula 4 and was on his way to finishing 5 in FRECA.
The following year Hadjar stepped up to Formula 3 and finished 4 in the championship, winning three races but finishing behind Victor Martins, Zane Maloney and Oliver Bearman who have all been linked with F1 seats this year.
He earned an immediate promotion with Hitech to Formula 2 in 2023 and finished 14 in his debut campaign, winning a disrupted Sprint Race at the Dutch Grand Prix.
However, Hadjar has stepped up in 2024 and is currently sitting 2 in the Formula 2 championship to Paul Aron after seven rounds.
He impressively won races in Australia and Imola and has had plenty of bad luck that have denied him a lot more points this season.
Most notably in Monte Carlo, where he should have won the Feature Race were it not for a virtual safety car on the final lap that handed Williams junior Zak O’Sullivan an improbable win.
Hadjar was absolutely furious on the team radio, via Formula Scout, and couldn’t hide his displeasure after the race.
That reaction to disappointment might have put Audi off signing Hadjar, although he’s also still very inexperienced.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if Seidl re-entered talks with Red Bull should several of their top targets agree deals elsewhere and if Hadjar continues to impress in F2 then he might be in contention once again.
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