Everything you need to know about Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber from team principal to Audi future

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Sauber Motorsport, currently competing as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, have been a Formula 1 team since 1993 but the outfit will become the factory Audi entry in 2026.

German manufacturer Audi initially announced in August 2022 that it was joining F1 in 2026 when the series embraces new power unit regulations. But the Volkswagen Group member bought a 20% stake in Sauber in January 2023 and Audi enriched it to 100% in March 2024.

Yet just eight months after securing 100% ownership of Sauber, Audi sold a 30% stake in the Formula 1 team to the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund was already a 17% shareholder in Volkswagen and spent one year discussing the deal with Audi.

Sauber are one of the longest-standing teams in Formula 1 and even have roots going back to 1970. Peter Sauber first founded the team to race in the Swiss Sportscar Championship in his homemade C1. And continued growth over the following years would lead Sauber to F1.

Electrician-by-trade Sauber won the 1970 Swiss Sportscar Championship in his C1. He also named the chassis after his wife, Christiane Sauber. Every Sauber F1 car except from 2006 to 2009 whilst the team aligned with BMW has also continued to have C in its chassis name.

The Sauber C8 also won the 1986 Nurburgring 1000kms with a Mercedes engine and almost led to an F1 entry. But the Silver Arrows had a late change of heart to leave Sauber without an engine. So, he went it alone and secured the team an entry into F1 in the 1993 campaign.

Sauber Motorsport team name

Sauber have been an independent Formula 1 team for much of their existence and operated under the name of their founder from 1993 to 2005 and from 2010 to 2018. The partnership with BMW from 2006 to 2009 marked the first time that Sauber changed their official name.

Alfa Romeo would also buy the naming rights for the Sauber F1 team in 2019 having initially only been a title sponsor in 2018. But Audi securing its initial 20% stake in the team led Alfa Romeo to terminate its contract with Sauber at the end of 2023, earlier than it first planned.

So, given Audi will not enter F1 before 2026, Sauber sought a new title sponsor for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Sauber made deals with Stake as well as the video livestreaming service, Kick, to form Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber. Kick also got the naming rights to Sauber’s chassis.

Sauber’s 2024 chassis is officially called the Kick Sauber C44. Yet despite the naming rights deals Kick and Stake secured for 2024 and 2025, the team are still often only called Sauber.

Sauber Motorsport founding year

Peter Sauber founded the company, Sauber Motorsport, in 1970 and put the team on the F1 grid in 1993. Austrian racer Karl Wendlinger and JJ Lehto from Finland were their first drivers in F1. They also finished the 1993 campaign seventh in the 12-team constructors’ standings.

Sauber Motorsport current team principal

Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber do not have an out-and-out team principal as Alessandro Alunni Bravi acts as their team representative. But Audi hired long-time Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley to become the team principal of Sauber as of 2025 during August 2024.

Wheatley will remain at Red Bull to the end of the 2024 Formula 1 season, marking his 16th year in Milton Keynes. His role as sporting director also saw the Briton manage Red Bull’s pit crew. Additionally, Wheatley had previously worked at Benetton and Renault as a mechanic.

Along with Wheatley moving to Hinwil to become Sauber’s team principal, Audi appointed Mattia Binotto as the chief operating and chief technical officer of Sauber and its Formula 1 project in July 2024 to replace Andreas Seidl. Binotto was previously Ferrari’s team principal.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Sauber and Audi F1 chief Mattia Binotto

Sauber Motorsport current drivers

Sauber currently run works Audi drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto as their two Formula 1 racers. Audi handed Hulkenberg a multi-year factory contract in 2024 to return to Sauber and lead its team, before signing F2 and F3 champion Bortoleto to a multi-year deal.

Hulkenberg, who previously raced with Sauber in 2013, left Haas for the Hinwil natives from the 2025 campaign after Audi elected to replace Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu. Bortoleto joined Sauber for his Formula 1 debut in 2025 after winning back-to-back titles in F2 and F3.

What F1 engine do Sauber Motorsport use?

Sauber have used Ferrari engines since the 2010 Formula 1 season but will break their long-standing partnership with the Scuderia in 2026 when Audi assumes full control of the team.

Ferrari currently provide Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber with their 066/12 1.6L V6 turbo-hybrid power unit for the 2024 season. Sauber have also run Mercedes, Ford and BMW engines in the past. Sauber also united with Petronas to build their own engines from 1997 until 2005.

Team lineage

While Sauber have changed their name over the years, the team’s lineage only goes back to Peter Sauber. He started Sauber Motorsport in the basement of the family’s home in Hinwil, Switzerland in 1970. The team have since expanded into the franchise Audi wanted to buy.

Sauber Motorsport drivers’ championships

Sauber are yet to win a Formula 1 drivers’ championship using any of the Swiss team’s many names. Robert Kubica secured the Hinwil natives their best finish to date with fourth in 2008 whilst operating as BMW Sauber. Lewis Hamilton won the title with 98 points to Kubica’s 75.

Kubica also earned Sauber’s only Grand Prix win to date at the 2008 Canadian GP. The Pole returned to Montreal just a year after his huge high-speed crash to overtake teammate Nick Heidfeld for the net race lead after Hamilton had crashed into Kimi Raikkonen at the pit exit.

Sauber Motorsport constructors’ championships

Sauber are yet to win a Formula 1 constructors’ championship since the team first debuted in 1993. The outfit secured their best finish so far with second place in 2007 as BMW Sauber.

Ferrari won the 2007 teams’ title with 204 points to BMW Sauber (101) after McLaren were disqualified. The FIA banned McLaren from the 2007 constructors’ championship, which the Woking team would have won on 218 points, and fined them £49m for the Spygate scandal.

Sauber Motorsport factory base

Sauber continue to be based in Hinwil, Switzerland in a 15,600 m2 (168,000 ft2) factory. The team started building their facilities back in 1991 when they won back-to-back constructor’s championships in the World Sports Car Championship as the official Mercedes works squad.

The Sauber-Mercedes alliance also won the World Sports Car Championship drivers’ title in 1989 and enjoyed a one-two finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans that term. Upgrades along the way have also continued to improve the facilities available to Sauber since entering F1.

Additionally, Audi will continue to base the production of the German brand’s F1 cars out of Sauber’s Hinwil site from 2026. Audi will run a separate operation for the production of the team’s engines in Neuburg an der Donau, Germany and started on the project in late 2022.

Neuburg an der Donau is home to Audi’s entire motorsport operation, which is named the Competence Center Motorsport. The VW Group brand also began extending the facilities in late 2022 with a 3,000 m2 building, which it called F7.2, to house Audi’s F1 engine project.

But Sauber being the only Formula 1 team based in Switzerland has historically limited their ability to attract top-tier engineers with technicians preferring to stay in England or move to Italy to work for Ferrari. So, Audi and Sauber established plans to create a UK base in 2025.

The UK base, which Audi has earmarked Bicester, Silverstone or Milton Keynes for within the Motorsport Valley where rivals like Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull are based, will serve as a technical centre. Audi hopes to open Sauber’s UK technical centre by the summer of 2025.

Factory address

Sauber Motorsport: AG Wildbachstrasse 9, 8340, Hinwil, Switzerland

Sauber Motorsport contact details

Website: sauber-group.com/feed?d=Racing

Phone: +41 44 937 90 00

General enquiries: [email protected]