Eddie Jordan believes former F1 boss would be ’embarrassed’ by his team

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The battle between the midfield teams in Formula 1 has gotten even closer this year, as the cars have started to converge on their performance.

This means the difference between getting knocked out in Q1 and progressing through to Q3 can often be a matter of hundredths of a second.

The team with the most early exits so far this year is Sauber, with Zhou Guanyu qualifying last on seven occasions this season. Their highest came from Valtteri Bottas at the Chinese GP, when he managed to qualify in 10th place.

In the races things get worse for Sauber, having achieved a highest place finish of 11th from Zhou at the season opener in Bahrain they are the only team so far that has not scored any points in the Constructors’ Championship.

Discussing their form on the Formula for Success podcast, former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan labelled the team an ’embarrassment’ ahead of their takeover from German car maker Audi.

Eddie Jordan labels Sauber an ’embarrassment’

Much of the problems for Sauber this year stem from their funding situation ahead of Audi’s takeover from the 2026 season.

Former owner Finn Rausing is still involved but the incentive to continue to pour cash into the team for little benefit has decreased as the takeover from the German car maker gets closer.

Audi recently confirmed former Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto is set to take over the project, but Jordan believes its current form is something that is less than desired.

“It shouldn’t also go unnoticed that the team that they [Audi] bought is Sauber, and I adore Peter Sauber as a person, but nice people don’t win anything,” said Jordan.

“The fortunate thing is that Peter hasn’t won anything in terms of winning Grand Prix. What he has failed to do even this year, which must be a big embarrassment, is that they’re the only team without a point.”

Sauber has not achieved a top-five finish in F1 Constructors since 2008

Sauber’s highest finishing position in the Constructors’ Championship in the last five years was achieved during the 2022 season when under the guise of Alfa Romeo they finished sixth.

Prior to that, Sauber’s last top-three finish in a season was 2007 when they had the backing of BMW. The subsequent year in 2008, Polish driver Robert Kubica won their first race and went on to become a title contender alongside Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen.

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BMW ultimately chose to focus on the 2009 season, effectively forfitting a chance for Kubica to convert his impressive season into a credible title challenge.

With Audi’s takeover, the Swiss-based team will hope that it can rapidly change its fortunes with both a chassis and engine combination developed in-house for the first time since the BMW days.