James Key has joined Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN as its technical director, replacing Jan Monchaux who has left the team. Key has worked at Sauber before, and will join the team on September 1st. Andreas Seidl, CEO of Sauber Motorsport, hired Key to prepare the Swiss organisation for the arrival of Audi in 2026. This move comes after Key was eased out of a similar role at McLaren earlier this year after a shake-up of technical responsibilities.
Zhou’s Reaction
Guan Yu Zhou, a member of the Alpine Academy and the reserve driver for both the Alpine F1 Team and the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, expressed surprise at the news, saying that while he knew changes were going to happen in the Sauber team ahead of Audi’s takeover, he had not expected such an important signing so soon. Zhou supports Seidl’s decision to hire Key, saying that he has faith in Seidl’s choices and that Key’s hiring is heading towards the direction Seidl wants to build the team into. Zhou hopes that Key will bring new ideas to the team to help them continue working and even make a further step up for the end of the season.
Key’s Previous Success
Zhou also notes that Key and Seidl worked together at McLaren when the team was struggling or finishing at the back, and were able to bring the team to a race-winning car or to the podium several times. Zhou believes that they both know what they are doing and that Sauber will benefit from Key’s experience.
Team’s Focus
Zhou reiterated that the team’s main focus continues to be on drag reduction, with recent upgrades being useful steps towards achieving this goal. The long-term focus for the team is to have less drag, which would allow them to use lower wings at a lot of tracks without worrying about being in trouble in the race on top speed. However, Zhou acknowledges that low drag is a long-term focus that may take until the end of this year or even next year to solve these issues.
In summary, James Key has joined Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN as its technical director, replacing Jan Monchaux. Zhou expressed surprise at Key’s hiring but supports Seidl’s decision and believes that Key’s experience will benefit the team. The team’s main focus continues to be on drag reduction, with recent upgrades being useful steps towards achieving this goal.
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