Jorg Zander to join Sauber as Technical Director
Audi's Technical Director is to join the Sauber team in the same role, following the announcement of the brand's withdrawal from the WEC.

The withdrawal of Audi from the WEC at the end of the season, announced a few days ago, will lead to the departure of its technical director Jorg Zander to the Sauber F1 team, which continues its recruitment with a view to its recovery in the more or less long term. The position has been vacant since Mark Smith’s departure before the start of the 2016 season.
Jorg Zander has already been involved in F1 in various roles with Toyota, BAR-Honda, Williams, Honda, and Brawn GP. The 52-year-old engineer also had a role in the Sauber team during its partnership with BMW as chief designer under Willy Rampf. His last experience in F1 was in 2009 and his departure from Brawn GP. In 2011, he almost joined HRT, but the contract ultimately didn’t happen. His stint at Audi didn’t last very long since the German had only joined the Volkswagen Group brand in 2015.
This recruitment is part of the ongoing wave of hiring undertaken by the Hinwil-based structure following its acquisition by the group of investors Longbow Finance SA, which injected fresh money into nearly empty coffers. The Swiss had previously poached Ruth Buscombe, formerly with Haas and Ferrari, to install her as the race strategist, Xevi Pujolar, previously Max Verstappen’s race engineer at Toro Rosso and also with Williams, as the new head of team operations, and finally, Nicholas Hennel, formerly with Renault, as head of aerodynamics.
Sauber will certainly continue in the coming weeks to integrate new people in order to establish a solid structure to face future challenges with more serenity.