Sauber | BMW Sauber F1 Team | Info and Stats

Sauber F1 Team F1 Facts

Team: BMW Sauber F1 Team
Drivers: Pedro de la Rosa - Kamui Kobayashi
Engine: Ferrari 056
F1 Debut: 1993 - South African Grand Prix

• Peter Sauber started in motorsport building and racing sportscars in 1970.
• Together with Mercedes, Sauber won the World Sportscar Championship in 1989 and 1990.
• Sauber entered Formula One with backing from Mercedes in 1993.
• Mercedes funded Michael Schumacher's entry into Formula One in 1991 on the condition that he would one day drive for the Sauber Mercedes Team. This condition was later dropped.
• Mercedes left Sauber in favour of a partnership with McLaren in 1995. Two years later Sauber started a long term customer arrangement with Ferrari.
• Sauber's best season with Ferrari engines came in 2001 when Kimi Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld took the team to fourth in the constructors championship.
• BMW bought the team outright in 2006 and the company's motorsport boss, Mario Theissen, took over from Peter Sauber.
• BMW Sauber scored their first win in 2008 and Robert Kubica challenged for the World Drivers Championship until the final races of the season.
• The team struggled for form in 2009, and this partly led to BMW's decision to withdraw from Grand Prix racing and sell the team back to Peter Sauber.
• Pedro De La Rosa joins Sauber in 2010 having been McLaren's test driver for the last seven years.
• Kamui Kobayashi will competing in his first full season of F1 with the team.