Ferrari were involved in bizarre F1 team name change

Peter Sauber and Ferrari — Photo: © LAT Images

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Ferrari were involved in bizarre F1 team name change

Sauber's latest team name change isn't the first time they have stunned F1 fans

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Sunday 17 December 2023 12:57

F1 name changes can often be minor – something as subtle as a change in title sponsor – or as big as a complete takeover to effectively launch a new team.

This week Sauber took things to a whole new level by revealing a new team name that you could have been mistaken for thinking they settled on after picking out random words in a dictionary.

So Alfa Romeo, who ran under the Sauber banner, is out and the far more convoluted ‘Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber’ is in. Rolls right off the tongue, that.

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We shouldn’t be too surprised though as this is not the first time Sauber have got themselves involved in a rather unusual team name announcement.

You don’t have to go too far back for the last occasion – with their entry for the 2010 season coming under a wave for bizarre circumstances.

Hero to zero for BMW

It begins in the summer of 2009 when BMW, as BMW-Sauber, announced a shock decision to pull out of F1 at the end of the season. It came against a backdrop of the team having been flying high in 2008 but opting against backing Robert Kubica in a championship bid to focus on developing the 2009 car for a season that would bring a raft of new rules and regulations.

Double touch to the head and point away, playing the long game.

Alfa Romeo pulled out of F1 at the end of the 2023 season

At their height in 2008 BMW-Sauber were in the hunt for the drivers' championship

Robert Kubica was BMW's star driver prior to their departure

Hoping to have gained a headstart, they instead fell through the pack and threw the toys out of their V8 powered prams, blaming the global financial crisis at the time for their reason to quit.

This left the future of the Sauber team in turmoil, with no financial backing lined up to carry them into the 2010 campaign.

Ferrari deal handed lifeline

Worse, even if they could get a car, funds and sponsors together, a 26-car grid had already been confirmed with Lotus taking their slot as one of three new teams that would start the 2010 season.

In September, BMW-Sauber team principal Mario Theisen confirmed that should they get a spot on the grid, the team had Ferrari engines lined up and ready to use – having previously used the power units under the badged name of Petronas before the BMW buyout in 2006. But by now, their hopes relied on other teams allowing them on the grid, or a rival dropping out.

BMW boss Mario Theisen is pictured with then test driver Sebastian Vettel

Sauber previous ran Ferrari engines under the title of sponsor Petronas

The latter is exactly what they got. A rival offered a lifeline – albeit indirectly. Toyota revealed an arguably bigger shock after the 2009 season when they too pulled the plug on their F1 project despite having a car already designed and partially built for 2010. It brought to an end a disastrous project that had seen billions of pounds put in without ever grabbing a race win following their 2002 debut.

Although financial backing from Qadbak investments to take over Sauber fell through (a bullet dodged given how their future played out) Peter Sauber came back from an advisory role to take full control of the team and save them at the last moment, with the FIA confirming they would take the now departed Toyota’s entry for the following season.

The birth of BMW Sauber-Ferrari

The FIA’s statement was a curious one though, with one line reading: "The FIA has written to inform BMW Sauber AG that their application for an entry in the 2010 FIA Formula One world championship has been successful."

The team were still called BMW-Sauber despite not a single piece of BMW being on the car. The decision was made during the summer to carry on beyond the season as BMW-Sauber to ensure the team inherited its sixth place finish in the constructors’ championship and bank the prize money from it as well as preserve their interest in other commercial deals.

Peter Sauber who founded his eponymous team rescued them in 2009

Sauber said: "It's very simple. We enrolled last summer with that (BMW) name for the 2010 season, and it is still our name.”

"We have not yet made an application to change it, and the timing of that is still open”.

However, with Ferrari engines now lined up and also featuring in the team name given that Petronas by now had thrown their hand in with Mercedes, it led to the birth of the rather confusing ‘BMW Sauber-Ferrari’. It was a mash-up that could have only otherwise occured in an F1 world as crazy as F1 Manager.

At the first opportunity, Sauber applied for a name change and after one season, the BMW name was finally removed in time for the 2011 campaign where it would run as Sauber-Ferrari.

Hopefully for Audi there will be no such headaches when they officially enter the sport with Sauber in 2026. ‘Audi Sauber-Ferrari’ anyone?

Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

View full biography

Sauber Alfa Romeo Robert Kubica BMW Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber