Last race as "Sauber"

The historic team began in endurance racing and hill climbing before moving to Formula 1 in 1993. That year, they scored 12 points (under the old points system) and finished 7th in the Constructors' Championship, with drivers JJ Lehto and Karl Wendlinger in the all-black Sauber C12. Sauber quickly established itself as a competitive team during a particularly tough period in F1. Notably, Sauber achieved its first podium finish at the 1995 Italian Grand Prix with driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

Initially, the team partnered with Mercedes and had a brief relationship with Ford before the Red Bull and Petronas partnerships began. The name variations changed over the season from Red Bull Sauber Ford -> Red Bull Sauber Petronas ->Sauber Petronas. The Red Bull partnership ended in 2001, and the Brand was absent from the sport until the 2005 season, when it bought the Jaguar team. You can say Sauber is responsible for bringing Red Bull into the sport.

Following the Sauber/Red Bull/Petronas era, it became BMW Sauber, a powerhouse during its five seasons. While under BMW's wing, the team featured drivers such as Nick Heidfeld, Jacques Villeneuve, and Robert Kubica, who delivered the team's only victory at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix. An interesting side note is that Sauber gave a young Sebastian Vettel his first F1 race in 2007 when he served as a substitute driver at the US Grand Prix in Indianapolis, where he impressively scored a point in his debut.

Eventually, BMW Sauber reverted to being called "Sauber F1" and raced under its own name for a decade, until the partnership with Alfa Romeo began in 2018, when it became Alfa Romeo Sauber. The team later dropped the Sauber name and competed solely as Alfa Romeo until its final return as Kick-Sauber. Their last livery featured bright green and black, and they achieved a memorable podium finish in 2025 with Nico Hülkenberg securing his first and only F1 podium at Silverstone — an absolutely iconic moment.

As F1 bids farewell to this legendary team, we welcome Audi F1 to the grid next season. While Audi is a significant name in the auto industry, alongside Mercedes, Aston Martin, McLaren, and Ferrari, the loss of a historic name like Sauber deserves recognition in F1. It would be fitting for the Audi team to include a small, subtle Sauber logo somewhere on the car next season as a nod to its rich history.