Current Alfa Romeo Racing (formerly Sauber)

Sauber

FIA Entry: Sauber F1 Team
Car 16: Kamui Kobayashi
Car 17: Sergio Perez
Engine: Ferrari V8
Team Principal: Peter Sauber
Technical Director: James Key
Race Engineer Car 16: Francesco Nenci
Race Engineer Car 17:Marco Schupbach

Stats as of end 2010

First Entered 1993
Races Entered 296
Race Wins 1
Pole Positions 1
Fastest Laps 2
Driver World Championships 0
Constructor World Championships 0

The Beginning

Following success in sports car racing Peter Sauber, in collaboration with Mercedes Benz, moved into Formula 1 in 1993. With Ilmor engines Sauber entered the C12 car (the C prefix for Sauber cars coming from Peter Sauber’s wife Christine) driven by Mercedes sports car drivers JJ Lehto and Karl Wendlinger. Lehto finished a creditable 5th in their first race and the cars proved fast but unreliable. When the cars finished they often picked up points with Lehto managing 4th in San Marino and Wendlinger the same placing in Italy.

In 1994 the team became officially Sauber Mercedes as the Ilmor engines were rebadged as Mercedes units. Heinz Harald Frentzen replaced Lehto and the team showed similar pace to the previous season with a number of minor points placings. Wendlinger was replaced, following an accident at Monaco, firstly by Andrea de Cesaris and later in the season by Lehto. Wendlinger’s accident, following closely after the deaths of Senna and Ratzenberger at San Marino, resulted in changes to the design of the cockpit on F1 cars to provide greater head protection in the event of an accident.

Red Bull & Ford

1995 saw Mercedes leave Sauber to supply engines to McLaren. Now armed with Red Bull sponsorship, Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz having bought a stake in the Sauber team, Sauber sourced Ford factory engines. Wendlinger hadn’t recovered well and was replaced early in the season by Jean Christophe Bouillon. Sauber amassed 18 points for the season with Frentzen taking a podium for 3rd in Belgium.

Jonny Herbert partnered Frentzen for 1996 and managed a highest of 3rd at Monaco, with Frentzen 4th, but the team ended the season on their lowest points tally since entering Formula 1 with 11 points

Ferrari Customer

From 1997 to 2005 Sauber used customer Ferrari engines and run under the name of title sponsor Petronas. The tie in with Ferrari extended beyond the supply of engines as Ferrari also provided the Swiss team with technical support.

Jonny Herbert continued with Sauber for 1997 and ’98 and was partnered in ’98 by veteran Jean Alesi. Herbert managed a podiums at Hungary in ’97 and Alesi in Belgium in ’98 but generally Sauber’s performance was fairly ordinary. In 2001 Sauber hired young Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen amidst protest form other teams due to his lack of experience. Raikkonen scored a point on his debut with teammate Nick Heidfeld 4th in the same race. Raikkonen’s appointment also triggered the sale of Red Bull’s stake in Sauber to Credit Suisse as the Austrian drinks company wanted the seat given to Enrique Bernoldi.

Peter Sauber continued to give drives to promising youngsters with Felipe Massa racing for him in 2004 & 2005 and Robert Kubica replacing Jacques Villeneuve in 2006.

BMW Sauber

For 2006 BMW took a controlling interest in the Sauber team and BMW units replaced Ferrari engines. BMW “works” driver Nick Heidfeld returned to Sauber from Williams and the team finished 2nd in the Constructors Championship behind Ferrari (following the exclusion of the McLaren team). Heidfeld scored points in 14 of the 17 races that season. 2007 also saw the first F1 drive for Sebastien Vettel who substituted for Robert Kubica at the race in Indianapolis following the Pole’s crash in Canada.

2008 saw Sauber take their first Grand Prix win with Kubica victorious in Canada and Heidfeld coming home 2nd. The team scored numerous podiums and claimed 3rd spot in the Constructors Championship.

2009 was a disappointing season following the highs of 2008 as Sauber struggled with changes to design regulations. Heidfeld and Kubica both managed a 2nd place each but the team dropped to 6th in the Constructors Championship. By the end of the season BMW decided to pull out of the sport.

Back to Ferrari

Following BMW’s withdrawal Peter Sauber took back control of his team. Re-equipped with Ferrari engines Sauber signed promising young Japanese driver Kamui Kobayshi alongside returning veteran Pedro de la Rosa. Early season reliability problems blighted the team but by the end of the season, and the replacement of de la Rosa with Nick Heidfeld, Sauber began to score points on a regular basis. Kobayshi managed a highest finish of 6th in Britain and the team ended 8th in the Constructors Championship.

2011

Kobayashi stays with Sauber for 2011 alongside Sergio Perez who brings with him some much-needed sponsorship from Mexican Telecoms company Telmex. The C30 chassis continues with a Ferrari engine.

 

[Slyboogy]

Mercedes have had their fair share of trouble too, probably far worse.

 

[F1ang-o]

ExtremeNinja
This is what I heard too....on TV
Would you like to delete your Sauber posts from the McLaren thread?
Cheers

Both Kobayashi and Perez feel they could be doing better:

Kamui Kobayashi: “Overall we have done a good job and achieved great things. The team built a very good car with an excellent performance. Since the beginning of the season we have been competitive on most tracks, and this means we can be confident for the remainder of the season. The downside so far has been we definitely missed some opportunities for some more great results. Too often we didn’t manage the weekend perfectly. If we can improve there, a lot will be possible.”

Sergio Pérez: “I had some great moments in the first half of the season. There were the two podiums in Malaysia and Montreal, which, of course, made me very happy. Nevertheless it was also a period with ups and downs because we didn’t make the most of every situation.”

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/s...rst-half-of-season-before-their-summer-break/

With the car they have, I personally think the team & drivers are really underperforming so far this season.

 

[Viscount]

Still stand by that statement. Perez's three podiums have been impressive, but there have also been 10 other races where he hasn't been impressive and Kobayashi's only managed to finish in the top 5 twice. They clearly have a good car, but the team and drivers seem to be unable to consistently unlock it at each track.

 

[Viscount]

So although Sauber may lose some Mexican sponsors with Perez's departure, Telmex have confirmed they are staying with Sauber for 2014. This might pave the way for the Mexican Sauber reserve driver Esteban Gutierrez to get into a race seat. Kobayashi claims he doesn't know where he'll be in 2013 so there may be 2 open seats at Sauber next year, perhaps we'll have an Alguersuari - Gutierrez partnership in 2013.

 

[RasputinLives]

Gutierrez was the obvious choice and hasn't looked too unimpressive in GP2 so might do ok but doubt he'll be as strong as either Kobi or Perez.

I doubt Sauber will want to lose both its drivers and lets face it Kobi has done a pretty steady job for them for a while so I reckon it hinges on the last few races. If Kobi can pull a few good results off before end of the season I reckon he'll be at Sauber for 2014. His 3rd on the grid today and being faster than Perez all weekend won't have done him any harm so far.

As for Alguersuari - I don't see the advanatage of bringing him in. I don't think he's shown anything that suggest he's better than either of the drivers they had this year.

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

Monisha Kalternborn has taken over as Sauber team principal from Peter Sauber with immediate effect, to become, I believe, the first female F1 team principal. I'm not sure how accurate this story is as I read it on Taki Inoue's twitter. He then goes on to say all F1 garages smell of garlic.

 

[Josh]

According to the Dutch F1 commentator, Olav Mol, a lot of Sauber engineers are wanting to leave at the end of this season. We all know Peter Sauber has been handing stock to Kalternborn and his son but apparently his son is a bit of a pancake (his words) and they're not happy with his son getting more control over the team...

 

[Josh]

Oh, and it's true Senna's_right_foot. Hope she does well...

 

[Viscount]

Josh Perhaps a few Sauber engineers will join McLaren to replace any going to Mercedes.

 

[Josh]

Yeah I thought about that as well, would make sense.

I don't know how much of it is true though because I haven't seen it reported anywhere...

 

[Viscount]

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/sauber-confirms-suspects-for-2013-seats/

I think Blick [Swiss newspaper] has mentioned all of the possibilities and there are no more suspects than that.

From what I've read the possibilities Blick have claimed in recent times are (in my own order of likelihood):
Esteban Gutierrez
Jaime Alguersuari
Nico Hulkenberg
Adrian Sutil
Kamui Kobayashi
Heikki Kovalainen
Sebastien Buemi

 

[Enja]

Blick naming basically everyone under the sun, then. Honestly I'm surprised they haven't found column inches for John Surtees to be in that car next year.

I still think it will be Alguersuari/Kobayashi, with Kamui on an (unfortunate) short leash, and with them having the idea that Gutierrez will be in the car in 2014.

 

[RasputinLives]

Yet another name to add to the list is dutchmen Robin Frinjs who's currently sitting second in the 3.5 world series. Sauber have jyst announced he'll drive the young dritest at Abu Dhabi for them and whilst its a long shot with him only being 21 he has looked mighty impressive in the world series and could take the title this weekend from Bianchi.

Unlikely to land the race seat but prob odds on for test driver next year.

 

[racecub]

C'mon Sauber! Who is driving for you?I like this team but need to know their driver line up. I liked their line up this year, now Perez has gone and Kobi might be gone Different team next year.

 

[Josh]

Same team different drivers

 

[racecub]

I know. But if you're primarily a driver supporter, it's important who the line up is.

 

[Josh]

If you're primarily a driver supporter and 2 drivers you like are most likely out then why do you care about their line up Or is there a driver you'd like to see next year?

 

[racecub]

I like the Sauber lady who runs the team and I'd like Kobi to keep his drive.

 

[Josh]

I'd like that too

What a great discussion for a Saturday night

 

[RasputinLives]

You not rooting for Frinjs to get it the Josh ?