Dreyer: We are deliberately copying our opponents' approaches

      The presentation that Audi staged in Munich last Wednesday was quite large-scale and made a strong impression – the organizers thus signaled that they have ambitious plans and very serious intentions.

      But the German company also gave the press a tour of the new Audi Sport headquarters; among those who visited was a correspondent from the Swiss publication Blick, which is well informed about Sauber affairs, on whose base the new team is being formed.

      Audi’s motorsport division is located in the suburbs of the Bavarian town of Neuburg an der Donau; it is there that power units for the new factory Formula 1 team are designed and built.

      Historically Sauber was relatively small, but it is now undergoing a period of transformation: its infrastructure is being modernized and its staff is being expanded. When the German company with an annual turnover exceeding 60 billion euros decided to acquire the assets of Sauber Motorsport, there were about 600 employees in Hinwil. That number has now risen to 700 – and this is only the beginning.

      In the engine-building division in Neuburg, some 430 people from 29 countries are involved in creating racing engines. On the grounds of the Audi Sport center there is its own test facility, which has been substantially expanded to meet the needs of the new factory project.

      In addition, the team has a small office in Bicester, in the heart of Oxfordshire, as the area has long been known as the “Motorsport Valley.”

      “It’s a very small division; its staff does not exceed a few dozen,” explained Stefan Dreyer, technical director of Audi Formula Racing. “Above all, they focus on attracting talent from the British racing industry.”

      Thus the total number of specialists of various professions working for the Audi F1 Team is around 1,200 people, and that is already impressive. About the same number work for Ferrari, whereas at Mercedes, during the period when that team dominated Formula 1, the staff numbered over 1,800 employees.

      “We are deliberately copying the approaches of our rivals, although I didn’t think the team would grow to such a size,” Dreyer admitted. It is worth noting that all employees of Sauber’s Swiss base in Hinwil kept their jobs; in the course of the restructuring not a single person was dismissed.

      Journalists who managed to visit the Audi Sport base in Neuburg note that there is a very positive atmosphere and it is clear that everyone is fired up — people’s eyes are literally shining. But Stefan Dreyer insists that it is especially important to remain realistic at the initial stage: “A new project is, of course, always interesting, but it is also a heavy burden. In the first year it will definitely be very difficult for us. Our engine builders have no archive of data collected in previous years, and that worries me a little.”