Kick Sauber

Points 0 Position Team 8 Power Unit Ferrari
Founded 1993 Based Hinwil

Rebranded again following Alfa Romeo's departure in 2023 and before Audi's arrival in 2026, Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber is the full name of the Sauber F1 Team that has been on the grid since 1993, with stogie-smoking Peter Sauber at the helm.

One of the longest-serving privateer outfits, the team scored points on their debut in South Africa and, two years later, bagged a first podium with a third place at the Italian Grand Prix.

The lows, though, have been more prevalent than the highs.

Although podiums trickled through, the team was never a constant competitor at the front, recording a season's best of P4 in 2001 before Sauber finally linked up with a manufacturer.

The team was bought by BMW in 2006 and a year later bagged a career-best P2 in the Constructors' Championship as they scored points in every single Grand Prix - a first and a last for the team.

Two years later Sauber was on the top step of the podium, with Robert Kubica winning the Canadian GP ahead of his team-mate, Nick Heidfeld.

BMW's foray into F1 was short-lived with the German manufacturer handing the team back to Peter Sauber in 2010.

Since then the Hinwil-based team has thrice been tenth in the championship and has never once finished inside the top half of the standings.

This led to Alfa Romeo coming on board in 2018. While Sauber was on the cusp of signing with Honda power, Ferrari stepped in through Alfa as they basically bought the team, rebranding it under the Alfa Romeo marque.

The team showed their desire to improve their results by signing 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen, although even he wasn't able to give Alfa Romeo the kick up the order they wanted in 2019.

Early signs were promising, but a decline in form saw Alfa Romeo end the campaign P8 in the standings with 57 points, while that slump only intensified in the following seasons.

Points were few and far between in 2020 and 2021, finishing only above Haas in 2021 and rounding off an incredibly disappointing time for them.

That prompted a change in both drivers, with the retiring Raikkonen replaced by fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas on a multi-year deal after his release by Mercedes, with rookie Zhou Guanyu also drafted in to replace Antonio Giovinazzi, becoming China's first ever full-time Formula 1 driver in the process.

The announcement came before 2023, however, would be Alfa Romeo's last season as Sauber's title partner, with the team reverting to the Sauber name for 2024 - before beginning a new era as Audi from 2026, with the German marque having agreed a majority stake in the team for when they enter Formula 1.

They also had a new CEO for 2023, Fred Vasseur leaving for Ferrari and Andreas Seidl of McLaren taking the reins.

After a stronger showing in 2022, they fell down to ninth in the Constructors' Championship in 2023 ahead of their newest rebrand with Australian cryptocurrency gambling company Stake, though in countries where gambling is banned, the team would go by Kick Sauber - Kick being Stake's subsidiary online streaming platform.

Their partnership will bridge the gap until Audi take a 75% stake in Sauber in 2026, with the German automotive giants set to become a factory team in Formula 1 in 2026, producing their own power unit for the sport's latest set of regulation changes.

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