After five seasons racing exclusively under the Alfa Romeo banner, the famous Sauber name returned to the Formula 1 grid this year with a bright new colour scheme under the Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber moniker.
This exercise is set to last two seasons as Sauber bridges the gap between Alfa Romeo’s involvement and Audi’s full takeover of the Swiss team for a factory effort in 2026.
However, Sauber doesn’t want to simply tread water during the transition. The team adjusted its car design philosophy last year and is determined to make that work as it seeks to rise through the midfield. It also has a chance to set the table ahead of Audi’s highly anticipated entry into the series.
Considering the level of investment and development required to get its F1 programme going, Audi will at least want to have a solid set of results on which to build.
Sauber’s stint under Alfa Romeo branding had flashes of success, but ended with an underwhelming 16 points and ninth place in last year’s 10-team World Constructors’ Championship. That was an especially disappointing result after a strong preceding season in which the team put 55 points on the board, finishing sixth overall.
The end of Alfa Romeo’s involvement coincided with Sauber taking a new direction for its 2024 challenger, the C44, which continues to use a Ferrari customer powertrain. The team hopes that this year lays the foundations for a strong ending to the 2022-2025 rules cycle, in turn giving Audi as good a starting point as it can. This means there are many strands of development going on at Sauber’s base in Hinwil, Switzerland.
Parallel paths
‘We’ve got three things in parallel right now,’ says Sauber F1 technical director, James Key, who joined the team last September. ‘We’ve got the here and now – our pit stops and developments to move
