Earlier in 2022, Audi announced that they would be entering Formula 1 in 2026 as the series entered a new, simplified era of engine regulations. It was a big coup for F1 which has been trying for years to get the likes of Audi and Porsche to enter the series. While Audi had announced its intention to enter the sport, it did not announce its team partner or the full details of the entry other than it was partnering with a team and building its own engine.
Fast-forward a few months and Audi confirmed that Sauber will be the team it partners with for 2026 and beyond. This was the team the manufacturer was initially rumored to be joining forces with, the squad currently running under the guise of Alfa Romeo. Audi will buy a stake in the Sauber team and the squad will likely run under the Audi name for the duration of time that the German manufacturer is in the sport. It’s been an interesting and winding road for Sauber up to this point, a team that has been a work’s entrant in Formula 1 with a German car company before.
Clean Started From Rather Humble Beginnings
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The Sauber squad jumped up from relatively humble beginnings during its first season in F1 back in 1993. Sauber Motorsport, which runs the team, was set up by Peter Sauber back in 1970 and competed in sports cars before entering Formula 1 in 1993. The C12 was the first Sauber car and was powered by a V10 Ilmor engine, it claimed fifth place on its debut showing that this new team wasn’t here to just make up the numbers. They would finish the seventh season out of the 13 entrants at the start of 1993.
The 1995 season would see Sauber earn its first podium, at a time when the team ran Ford engines and with Red Bull sponsorship that would last 10 years. Heinz-Harald Frentzen would take a podium position at that year’s British Grand Prix, and while it required a bit of good fortune, it was still a milestone in the team’s history. One of its biggest claims to fame was signing 20-year-old Kimi Raikkonen in 2001 with just 23 car races under his belt. Raikkonen then showed everyone he was worth it, and he helped Sauber to finish fourth in the standings that year.
Sauber Squad Becomes The Works BMW Team
BMW would buy the major shareholding in the team at the end of 2005 that belonged to Credit Suisse. This saw the squad become the BMW Sauber team, as Sauber himself retained a 20% stake. The first podium for the now works team came at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix when Nick Heidfeld took third place from tenth on the grid. A certain Robert Kubica would finish 7th on the road that day in his first race, replacing Jacques Villeneuve, although Kubica would be later disqualified due to an underweight car.
Kubica would stay on with the team and scored his first podium at that year’s Italian Grand Prix, and the team built on the good pace from 2006 with a solid 2007 season. The 2008 season though was the high point, as Kubica put himself in championship contention with a win in the Canadian Grand Prix, in what would prove to be his and BMW Sauber’s only win in F1. BMW opted not to develop that year’s F1.08 car any further, to focus on the rule changes coming for 2009. But that would prove disastrous.
BMW Exit Leads To A Privateer Return
The F1.08 dropped off the development curve as 2008 went on, annoying Kubica who had led the championship after his win and he believed he could have fought for the title. The 2009 season though would make BMW regret the 2008s decision as it was nothing short of a disaster, as the team slumped before BMW left the sport at the end of the year. Sauber became a privateer team again, with the high point being 2012 when Sergio Perez took three podiums and Kamui Kobayashi another in an amazing year for the team.
Morphing Into The Alfa Romeo Team
Sauber sold the team on in mid-2016 to Longbow Finance SA and after a few years in the doldrums, things picked up in 2018 when the team became Alfa Romeo-Sauber before becoming Alfa Romeo in 2019. Raikkonen returned to the team, and along with Antonio Giovinazzi, they heralded in the true Alfa Romeo era in 2019 the team still runs that name now, with Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou behind the wheel. The team will remain Alfa Romeo for 2023 before likely becoming Sauber again for the two years before the Audi naming. It’s been a long road for the Sauber squad, and with several iterations, but the Audi chapter may just be the most interesting of them all.
Sources: Audi, BMW, Formula 1, Alfa Romeo
Did you miss our previous article...
https://formulaone.news/alfa-romeo/how-chinas-first-f1-driver-proved-his-doubters-wrong
