Beat Zehnder | |
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| Born | 9 January 1966 |
| Nationality |  Swiss |
| Citizenship | Swiss |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Employer | Alfa Romeo Racing |
| Known for | Formula One mechanic and team manager |
| Title | Sporting director |
Beat Zehnder (born 9 January 1966) [1] is a Swiss Formula One engineer. He is currently the sporting director at the Sauber Formula One team. He has been with the Swiss team since its inception in 1993, and has attended every single race. [2]
Beat Zehnder has been a part of the Sauber family since the 1980s. He started with the Swiss outfit as a mechanic in the early days of the team's partnership with Mercedes Benz, moving from the number two mechanic to the number one in the space of a year. When the team began to concentrate their efforts on launching their own F1 team, he moved across from the mechanics side to work on logistics. [3] However, Zehnder was swiftly returned to his mechanics duties, becoming the team manager and chief mechanic in 1994. [4] In 1995, Peter Sauber asked Zehnder to concentrate exclusively on logistics and team management and thus he became the team manager, which is a role he still holds today, albeit in an evolved form as Sporting Director at the renamed Alfa Romeo Racing. [5] In his current role Zehnder represents the team in discussions with the FIA and sporting working group as well as managing logistics and garage operations. Throughout his time at the Swiss team, Zehnder has mentored many drivers such as Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, Robert Kubica and Charles Leclerc. [6]
Zehnder is married to Nadine Imboden . The couple were married in 31 December 2006. [7] [8]
Kimi-Matias Räikkönen, nicknamed "The Iceman", is a Finnish racing driver who competed in Formula One between 2001 and 2021 for Sauber, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, and Alfa Romeo. Räikkönen won the 2007 Formula One World Championship while driving for Ferrari; he finished second overall twice and third three times. Räikkönen is the most successful Finnish Formula One driver by several metrics, and has the seventh-most podium finishes (103), third-most fastest laps (46), and third-most race starts (349) in Formula One history. He is known for his reserved personality and reluctance to participate in public relations events.
Steve Matchett is a commentator for American TV network Fox Sports on its Formula E programming. He formerly co-hosted live Formula One practices, qualifying sessions, and races alongside David Hobbs and Bob Varsha.
Robert Józef Kubica is a Polish racing and rally driver, currently competing for AF Corse in the FIA World Endurance Championship and for AO in the European Le Mans Series. Kubica competed in Formula One between 2006 and 2021 and in the World Rally Championship from 2013 to 2016; he won the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix with BMW Sauber, and remains the only Polish driver to compete in Formula One. In endurance racing, Kubica won the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 class with WRT.
Sauber Motorsport AG currently competing in Formula One as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber and also known simply as Kick Sauber or Sauber, is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in 1993. Sauber operated under their own name from 1993 until 2005 and from 2011 until 2018. They were known as BMW Sauber from 2006 to 2010 and as Alfa Romeo from 2019 to 2023 in partnership deals with BMW and Alfa Romeo, respectively. Sauber returned in 2024 as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, and is set to be the Audi works team from 2026 onwards, with the German outfit planning to acquire the Swiss team.
Italian motor manufacturer Alfa Romeo has participated multiple times in Formula One. The brand has competed in motor racing as both a constructor and engine supplier sporadically between 1950 and 1987, and later as a commercial partner between 2015 and 2023. The company's works drivers won the first two World Drivers' Championships in the pre-war Alfetta: Nino Farina in 1950 and Juan Manuel Fangio in 1951. Following these successes, Alfa Romeo withdrew from Formula One.
The BMW Sauber F1.08 was the Formula One racing car with which the BMW Sauber team competed in the 2008 Formula One World Championship. The chassis was designed by Willy Rampf, Walter Reidl, Christoph Zimmermann and Willem Toet with the powertrain being designed by Markus Duesmann.
The 2008 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 24 August 2008 at the Valencia Street Circuit in Valencia, Spain. It was the 12th race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship. Felipe Massa for the Ferrari team won the 57-lap race from pole position. Lewis Hamilton finished second in a McLaren car, with Robert Kubica third in a BMW Sauber.
Valtteri Viktor Bottas is a Finnish racing driver, currently competing in Formula One for Sauber. Bottas twice finished runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 2019 and 2020 with Mercedes.
There have been nine Formula One drivers from Finland who have taken part in races since the championship began in 1950. Three drivers have won the World Drivers' Championship, with Keke Rosberg being the first in 1982. Mika Häkkinen won it in 1998 and retained it in 1999, becoming the first - and so far only - Finnish double world champion. Kimi Räikkönen is the most recent Finnish champion having won the title in 2007. Finland is considered to have an unusually high amount of successful Formula One drivers for a country of its relatively small size.
Antonio Maria Giovinazzi is an Italian racing driver, currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Ferrari AF Corse. Giovinazzi competed in Formula One from 2017 to 2021. In endurance racing, Giovinazzi won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023 with Ferrari.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi is an Italian lawyer and manager, best known for being Managing Director of the Sauber Group of companies since 2022 and Team Representative of Stake F1 Team since 2023. Throughout his Motorsports career, Alunni Bravi held the position of Team Principal and Managing Director of Trident Racing and General Counsel of ART Grand Prix and Spark Racing Technology, amongst other ventures, as well as acted as legal counsel for over twenty years.
Frédéric Vasseur is a French motorsport engineer and Formula One team principal. He is currently the team principal and general manager of Scuderia Ferrari, and was previously the managing director, CEO, and team principal of the Swiss-based Alfa Romeo Racing.
Ruth Buscombe Divey is a British motorsport engineer and presenter for F1 TV. A first class honours graduate of the University of Cambridge Department of Engineering, she began working in Formula One with Scuderia Ferrari at its headquarters in 2012 as a race strategist. Buscombe later moved to Haas F1 Team in November 2015 to become the team's strategy engineer. She left Haas in June 2016 and was employed by Sauber three months later, helping the team finish ahead of rival Manor Racing in the 2016 Constructors' Championship. She joined the F1 TV line-up in mid-2024 from her role as a strategy engineer at the Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber. Buscombe is an ambassador for Dare to be Different.
The 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship was the motor racing championship for Formula One cars which marked the 70th running of the Formula One World Championship. It is recognised by the governing body of international motorsport, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. Starting in March and ending in December, the championship was contested over twenty-one Grands Prix. Drivers competed for the title of World Drivers' Champion, and teams for the title of World Constructors' Champion. The 2019 championship also saw the running of the 1000th World Championship race, the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix.
Julien Simon-Chautemps is a French motor racing engineer. He has been race engineer of the Sauber Formula One team since 2017.
The Alfa Romeo Racing C38 is a Formula One racing car designed and constructed by Alfa Romeo Racing to compete during the 2019 Formula One World Championship. It is the first Sauber-engineered car to be badged Alfa Romeo following a team renaming deal struck with Sauber Motorsport AG in February 2019. It was Alfa Romeo's first season as a F1 team since 1985. The car was driven by Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi, and made its debut at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix. The car finished 8th in the Constructors' Championship with 57 points, 43 for Räikkönen and 14 for Giovinazzi.
The 2021 Dutch Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 5 September 2021 at the Circuit Zandvoort. It was the thirteenth round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship and the first Dutch Grand Prix to take place since 1985. The race was won by Max Verstappen – prior to him, no Dutch driver had won their home race.
The Alfa Romeo Racing C39 is a Formula One car constructed by Alfa Romeo Racing to compete in the 2020 Formula One World Championship. The car was driven by Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi, returning for their second year with the team. Robert Kubica acted as the team's reserve driver. The car was planned to make its competitive debut at the 2020 Australian Grand Prix, but this was delayed when the race was cancelled and the next three events in Bahrain, Vietnam and China were postponed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The C39 made its debut at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix.
Willem Hendrik Toet is a Dutch-born Australian–British Formula One aerodynamicist. He is currently the Senior Sales Manager and Aerodynamics consultant for Sauber Aerodynamics and Alfa Romeo Racing. He was previously the head of aerodynamics for the Sauber F1 team but stepped down in 2015.
The Alfa Romeo Racing C41 is a Formula One car constructed by Alfa Romeo Racing to compete in the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship. The car was driven by Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi, who returned for their third year with the team. Robert Kubica drove for the team at the Dutch and Italian Grands Prix replacing Räikkönen who withdrew from the events after testing positive for COVID-19. The chassis was designed by Jan Monchaux, Luca Furbatto, Lucia Conconi, Alessandro Cinelli and Nicolas Hennel with the car being powered by a customer Ferrari powertrain.
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