Audi's Beat Zehnder to leave the Hinwil team after 39 years
Audi has confirmed that Beat Zehnder, who joined the Hinwil team in 1988 and was team manager for more than two decades, will leave at the end of December 2026 as part of a restructuring of the team for the 2027 season.
Few people in the paddock can say they were at every grand prix their team entered for almost three decades. Beat Zehnder can. On the opening day of the Mexico City weekend, Audi confirmed that he will leave the Hinwil-based team at the end of December 2026, after 39 years.
What Audi announced
According to RacingNews365 and Dutch outlet F1Head, the team links the departure to a restructuring of its organisation ahead of 2027. Zehnder's most recent job was director of signature programs and operations, where he led the team's heritage activities. Neither report quotes Zehnder himself, and no plans for what he will do next have been made public.
The team thanked him for his service. It said he never lost his "relentless competitive streak or his desire to win", and described him as a mentor to hundreds of team members and drivers.
A career that spans the whole project
Zehnder joined Sauber Motorsport in 1988, when the company was a sportscar operation. It won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the World Sportscar Championship in 1989 and 1990. He moved into Formula 1 with the team in 1993 and became team manager a year later, a role he kept for more than twenty years. He joined the management committee in 2018.
He leaves with 601 consecutive grands prix and 36 World Sportscar Championship races to his name. Among the drivers he worked with were Kimi Räikkönen, Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, Robert Kubica and Charles Leclerc.
The team he leaves behind
The sportscar operation he joined now races as Audi's factory team. His trackside duties were reduced in 2025, when Iñaki Rueda took over the sporting side and Zehnder moved to heritage work. Thomas Fuhr is due to take over as CEO of Audi Formula Racing in Neuburg on 1 November, overseeing the whole project.
Our race data shows the scale of the work still ahead. Across the 18 grands prix of 2026 so far, Audi's two cars have finished in the points places seven times, with a best result of eighth, and the team has scored 21 points in race classifications (sprint points not counted).
The restructuring is expected to take shape before the 2027 season starts. Audi has not said who will take on the responsibilities Zehnder held.
