Audi eager to sign ‘experienced’ development driver “by the end of 2023”

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In the round-up: Audi Formula Racing CEO Adam Baker says that the 2026 power unit manufacture is looking to bring a development driver aboard their Formula 1 project by the end of this year.

In brief

Audi eager to sign ‘experienced’ development driver “by the end of 2023”

Audi Formula Racing CEO Adam Baker says that the 2026 power unit manufacture is looking to bring a development driver aboard their Formula 1 project by the end of this year.

The German marque will make its debut in F1 with the Sauber team – currently Alfa Romeo – as the new power unit formula comes into effect in 2023. Baker told SoyMotor that the manufacturer will look for an experienced driver to help develop their power units for their entry into F1.

“It may seem that our debut is far away, but we want to have a development driver by the end of 2023,” said Baker. “It is very important to have someone who has experience to develop our new engine in the simulators we have in Neuburg.

“We are looking for experts in the field with previous experience in Formula 1. It is the first time, since 2009, that a Formula 1 engine has been developed in Germany and therefore if we want specialized personnel we must look in England, France or Italy.”

Red Bull influence in 2023 Ferrari

Ferrari’s new Formula 1 car for 2023 will be an evolution of its race-winning predecessor with notable aerodynamic tweaks aimed at addressing their greatest shortcomings, La Gazzetta dello Sport reports.

Some of the changes are expected to emulate successful concepts seen on Red Bull’s championship-winning 2022 design. Ferrari’s distinctive, tall-edged sidepods will be shortened, creating more of a ‘double floor’ effect. The rear bodywork will be revised and a horizonal section incorporated above the suspension for cooling, again recalling the RB18’s layout.

Ferrari is also understood to have addressed the power unit reliability problems which cost them at least two likely wins last year. The team ran its cars more conservatively following a spate of failures last season, and rectifying the problem should allow them to obtain better performance from their 066/7 hybrids.

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Comment of the day

F1’s viewing figures may be booming, but @davidhunter13 is less than impressed with how much British fans must cough up just to watch on TV…

I don’t have Sky so I use the Now TV sports pass and you need to get boost if you want it in a reasonable quality (and at 50frames per second for smoother viewing) and last season was a joke. Normally they would offer a season pass for a reasonable price (well compared to the £34 a month or whatever the sports pass is), but they didn’t have this as an option until literally the first day of the season if I remember right. Such a pain, and still way too expensive. I’d be happy to pay a standard streaming fee of around £10 a month JUST for F1, I never watch any other sport with the pass that’s available. But I guess they will never do that as they’ll lose too much money (but could make that up with more subs!).

I really wish we had F1TV in the UK but Sky have the rights for years to come.
davidhunter13

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Ajokay, Coefficient, Luke and Mattypf1!

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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27 comments on “Audi eager to sign ‘experienced’ development driver “by the end of 2023””

  1. MB (@muralibhats)
    3rd January 2023, 3:20

    Vettel seems to be a very good candidate for Audi. PR and experience wise he would give them a lot of boost

    1. Lol. I don’t get it. Vettel don’t need to be a development driver. Let the man step away from racing for a while. And maybe comeback as a racing driver in 2025/2026 with Audi

      1. MB (@muralibhats)
        3rd January 2023, 5:46

        This is not a typical development driver role.

        “ It is very important to have someone who has experience to develop our new engine in the simulators we have in Neuburg.”

        He has experience working with Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault engines.

        1. @muralibhats We get why Audi would want him, but why would Seb want to come out of retirement for a development driver role?

    2. Surely Vettel is too busy making slogans, saving bees and wearing rainbow colours to help develop an engine that drinks and emits such harmful chemical compounds and will only exist to make a global corporation more profit.

      But then, maybe you are right – his moral compass does seem to point in both directions at the same time…

      1. Maybe he’ll go on a worldwide tour, private jet of course, and tell us to eat less meat and have less kids.

  2. We are looking for experts in the field with previous experience in Formula 1. It is the first time, since 2009, that a Formula 1 engine has been developed in Germany…

    Yeah, well the Mercedes engine facility is in Brackley and was previously Ilmor. So where was the engine developed?

    1. I think he is referring to Toyota whose entire engine and chassis operation was based out of Cologne (I think).

  3. Robert Kubica

    1. Makes sense. Experienced driver and has Sauber links.

  4. Re: COTD. I generally watch the races early on the Monday morning because that is the only time I get to watch them. Now TV are supposed to have the races available on demand but in my experience its very hit and miss. Also its only in 720p 20 ish fps on catchup even with a boost pass. However as an F1TV Access customer in the UK a quick VPN trip to Italy in the morning and all F1TV access customers get a full 1080p 50 fps replay of the race. Sky’s shoddy systems just cant compete with that. Oh and don’t forget All 4 who have 1080p 20 ish fps highlights ready to watch in the morning and that costs nothing. Just need to get all 4 + to cut out the ad’s.

    Sky on the other hand:

    – Sky Q is the best way as it records the race but they will hit you with stealthy price increases throughout your locked in contract and on demand downloads don’t work properly as there is a long standing bug which they cant seem to fix

    – Sky Stream/Glass is hit and miss as to if it will “cloud record” the race or not. Then you have to be in the same position of Now TV waiting up to 48 hours for the on demand replay to show up.

    – Now TV is intentionally hobbled to get you to “upgrade” to one of the 2 shoddy systems above

    F1 should have took the money hit and done a deal with Channel 4 for a 10 races live and rest highlights then pushed F1TV Pro in the UK. Its much more stable now its on a AWS platform and could handle the millions of subscribers it would get.

    Sky TV has a 1.5 ish score on Trustpilot as people get fed up with their tactics and complain and subscriber numbers are going down. We might see those viewing figures going back in Channel 4’s favour at this rate.

    1. It truly is so frustrating. I personally use a family members Sky Go account and play it through my PlayStation (I contribute to their annual cost to sort of justify it). I have considered using a VPN to access F1 TV but it just feels wrong to do something that isn’t really legal, yet Sky have such a monopoly when a perfectly good alternative exists for other countries. It is galling that we pay c.£600 through Sky when an annual F1 TV fee is about $100.

      But hey, cash is king.

    2. Think of it as F1 is fining you for watching and enjoying their races. They’d much rather you watched one of the competing motor sports.

  5. some racing fan
    3rd January 2023, 5:22

    RIP Ken Block

  6. Someone needs to tell Audi they already technically have Valtteri Bottas on their books and that he has experience of the Mercedes and Ferrari PUs…

    1. When it comes to development Nico Hülkenberg is one of the best.

      1. But he has an actual race seat for 2023.

    2. An active driver on the grid is not the same as a development driver in the simulator. Most teams have a separate development driver.

  7. Well Kvyat isn’t doing much. Give him a call.

  8. Hope it’s not like the “double floor” Ferrari from 1992… not their finest car ever.

    1. The quality of that article can be judged by the fact that the author of that piece has recycled many of those same claims in his article predicting what Red Bull will do.

  9. Mark in Florida
    3rd January 2023, 13:54

    Romain Grosjean? He might be interested.

  10. A German engine has not been developed since 2009? Audi likes to disregard competition or I’m reading that statement incorrect…Mercedes, is German, yes? Mercedes won 8 WC on a 2009 model? I’m confused by this statement.

    1. They’re alluding to the fact the Mercedes engines aren’t built in Germany, whereas theirs will be. They mentioned it when their entry was announced as well, saying it’ll be the first time since 2009 (i.e. when BMW was in F1).

      1. Ahh, I see, thank you for the clarification.

      2. @keithcollantine Wasn’t the Toyota engine not developed in Cologne, Germany. I’m sure Toyota made a point of saying they were the only team where the chassis and engine were developed on the same site. I can’t exactly remember when Toyota quit F1 but it was around 2009 I think. Although he could equally be referring to BMW as well.

  11. No need to be a F1 expert or have knowledge from inside Ferrari to understand that the F1-75 sidepods concept has become obsolete once the TD039 was introduced.

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