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.
 
It is true that Peter Sauber has been very astute with a relatively small budget over the years. As kristi Ray said, they would undoubtedly put any money earned from any Pérez buy-out wisely.

30 points is a damn good tally after two races for a midfield team; both Kobayashi and Pérez have maximised the opportunities they have had in the first two races.
 
Oooh, now I finally get this post!
I think Williams have really improved on last years effort and I'm quite shocked about how they have managed to do it given the amount of new faces at the team. It must be a Ray of light for them to be at the sharp end of the grid but if they have the pace to hit the podium let alone the top spot remains to be seen. It's going to send out a message to Ron to up his game at Mclaren (well all of the team bosses really). I reckon though if they haven't hit the top spot by the time the F1 band wagon arrives In Canada I reckon you'll have your answer.


I agree with you tby, 30 points is damn good. I just hope they won't fall away like last year but can keep up with the development race.
 
Rumours that Sauber's teaser logo 'Out of Blue' for their big new sponsor may be former Williams sponsor At&T or Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.

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Good God! Wasn't there some rumour about Abramovich buying into an F1 team some years back? Presume this means Mr. Petrov will be in a Sauber next season when Perez moves up to Ferrari.
 
Oh heck I hope Sauber aren't bought by that horrible man. He'd be firing drivers left, right and centre if their didn't score points in every race. I'm sorry but F1 should be kept an Abramovich free zone.
 
I'm quite happy for F1 to take his money. I don't think Peter Sauber will lose control of his team again - lets remember this is a link with Chelsea not Abramovich - I'm sure they'll tell us its a big difference.
 
Well done to Sauber for going down a new route in F1 sponsorship but I'm struggling to see what Chelsea will get out of this. Cross sponsorship with drivers wearing Samsung sponsored race suits? John Terry kneeing one of the Ferrari drivers in the back on the podium perhaps? (Ha, one of the Ferrari drivers - perhaps I should have just written "kneeing Alonso in the back on the podium). Maybe it's the whole Russian GP thing and Zenit St Petersburg will also feature, or Gaz-Prom?

Very confused....
 
I don't think the Premier League suffers from a lack of worldwide exposure. Quite the reverse in fact. So I'm not entirely sure what Chelsea have to gain from this*.

I know AVB, Capello and Mancini have been to F1 regularly - any of the current Chelsea squad been spotted?

*OK, I could have said "I haven't a Kalou what they're doing!"
 
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