Sauber’s success is an F1 anomaly as teams switch focus to 2026

SILVERSTONE, England (AP) — Sauber celebrated a rare podium finish with Champagne donated by its Formula 1 rivals. After all, this wasn’t meant to be its year.

Mercedes sent over a staffer to Sauber bearing bottles of Champagne and a message of congratulations after Nico Hülkenberg’s surprise third place at the British Grand Prix on Sunday. It was his first podium as a driver and the team’s best finish in 13 years.

Sauber personnel jumped and sang as the sparkling wine was sprayed around the team’s hospitality site.

Not bad for a “building year,” as Hülkenberg put it in February. Sauber was one of the teams eyeing 2026 opportunities before 2025 even began.

The biggest rule change in a generation brings smaller cars with movable front and rear wings and more electrical power. Teams who have been also-rans in 2025 have the chance to make a big step forward.

The teams eyeing a leap forward

At the halfway point of the 2025 season, Aston Martin, Williams and Sauber — to be rebranded Audi next year — all have ambitious plans for 2026.

Development work at Aston Martin’s brand-new wind tunnel across the road from the Silverstone circuit is 99% focused on next year’s car, team principal Andy Cowell said Friday.

It’s the first Aston Martin overseen by design great Adrian Newey, who’s created title-winning cars for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull over nearly 40 years in F1 and is the star signing of the team’s new era.

“He pushes the boundaries,” Cowell said. “He packages 10 things into the space where only one would normally fit.”

It’s been a quiet 2025 on track. Aston Martin had its first double points finish of the season Sunday, with Lance Stroll seventh and Fernando Alonso ninth.

At Williams, driver Alex Albon was testing out 2026 ideas in the simulator before the 2025 season began. The team has invested heavily in behind-the-scenes reforms to recapture its glory days as a serial title-winner in the 1980s and 1990s.

Turning Sauber into the Audi works team brings a new level of expectation, while General Motors joins F1 in 2026 with its Cadillac brand.

Front-runners have more to lose

Top teams in particular face a tricky question to judge when to stop developing this year’s car and go all-in on 2026.

Red Bull was the big winner from the last major changes in 2022 as Max Verstappen won four straight titles. There’s big change this time without Newey and with a new engine partnership between its Red Bull Powertrains unit and Ford.

Verstappen’s future is unclear amid speculation he could leave for Mercedes. It would be a “disaster” for Red Bull to lose him, McLaren boss Zak Brown told the Associated Press on Saturday.

“Sport goes in cycles,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said last week. “We’ve had two incredibly successful cycles in Formula 1, and what we want to do is build towards the next cycle.”

“Of course we want that to be with Max but we understand the pressure that there is next year, with us coming in as a new power unit manufacturer.”

The last time the rules changed, McLaren showed it’s possible to start a new F1 era slowly but evolve into a title contender. It took over two years until the breakthrough win, though.

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