Company type | Private company |
---|---|
Industry | Automotive |
Founded | Hinwil, 1996 |
Founder | Peter Sauber and Willy Rampf |
Defunct | 2005 (due to BMW purchase) |
Headquarters | Hinwil, Switzerland |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Peter Sauber, Willy Rampf and Osamu Goto |
Products | Engines and hydraulic manifolds |
Services | High performance engineering |
Parent | Sauber F1 Team and Petronas |
Formula One World Championship career | |
---|---|
First entry | 1997 Australian Grand Prix |
Last entry | 2005 Chinese Grand Prix |
Races entered | 153 (151 starts) |
Chassis | Sauber |
Constructors' Championships | 0 (Best result: 4th, 2001) |
Drivers' Championships | 0 (Best result: 8th, 2001, Nick Heidfeld) |
Race victories | 0 |
Podiums | 4 |
Points | 142 |
Pole positions | 0 |
Fastest laps | 0 |
Sauber Petronas Engineering AG (SPE) was a company owned jointly by the Swiss racing car manufacturer Sauber (60%) and the Malaysian oil company Petronas (40%). It was founded in 1996 [1] for the purpose of supplying engines to the Sauber Formula One team but at the same time the company began work on the design of production car engines for the Malaysian national car company Proton. [2] The company also helped develop racing motorcycles like Petronas GP1. [3]
Former Honda and Ferrari engineer Osamu Goto was in charge of the Powertrain Division, including the F1 engine program. [1] [2]
The engines were for many years nearly identical to the ones used by Ferrari but were branded Petronas. Sauber licensed nearly every legally licensable part from Ferrari and even had several Ferrari engineers on staff. Many pointed out suspicious similarities between Ferrari and Sauber chassis, but no formal accusations were ever made, even if FIA rules require each team to design their own chassis. The long-term aim of Sauber Petronas was to design and build its own F1 engines for the 1999 season but the programme was abandoned, choosing instead to continue with the Ferrari units. [2]
In 1998, Petronas commissioned the Powertrain Division of SPE to design their own first commercial automotive engine, the Petronas E01e engine. [3]
After the 2005 season, Sauber was bought by BMW and the co-operation with Ferrari ended.
(key; results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in 1950. The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s, before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s. This engine was the result of a deal between BMW and Brabham, which resulted in the team's chassis being powered by BMW engines from 1982 until 1987, a period in which Nelson Piquet won the 1983 championship driving a Brabham BT52-BMW. BMW also supplied the M12/13 on a customer basis to the ATS, Arrows, Benetton and Ligier teams during this period, with various degrees of success. In 1988, Brabham temporarily withdrew from the sport and BMW withdrew its official backing from the engines, which were still used by the Arrows team under the Megatron badge. Turbocharged engines were banned by the revised Formula One Technical Regulations for 1989, rendering the M12/13 obsolete.
Peter Paul Sauber is a retired Swiss motorsport executive. He was the team principal and owner of various motorsports teams, most visibly the eponymous Sauber Formula One team.
Sauber Motorsport AG 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 F1 Team from 2019 to 2023 in a partnership deal 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.
Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains is a Formula One engine manufacturer, owned by Mercedes-Benz.
The Sauber C18 was the car with which the Sauber team competed in the 1999 Formula One World Championship. It was driven by Frenchman Jean Alesi, in his second year with the team, and Brazilian Pedro Diniz, who joined from Arrows.
The Sauber C16 was the car with which the Sauber team competed in the 1997 Formula One World Championship. It was initially driven by Briton Johnny Herbert, who was in his second season with the team, and Italian Nicola Larini.
The BMW Sauber F1.06, also simply known as the BMW F1.06, was the car with which the BMW Sauber team competed in the 2006 Formula One World Championship. It was driven by German Nick Heidfeld, who joined from Williams, and Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, who had spent one season with Sauber before it was bought by BMW. However, Villeneuve was replaced by third driver, Pole Robert Kubica, before the season finished. The year marked the first time that BMW had competed as a full team; previously it had only supplied engines. The chassis was designed by Willy Rampf, Jacky Eeckelaert and Seamus Mullarkey with the powertrain being designed by Heinz Paschen.
The BMW Sauber F1.07 is a Formula One single-seater racing car built by BMW Sauber for the 2007 Formula One World Championship. The chassis was designed by Willy Rampf, Walter Reidl, Jörg Zander and Willem Toet with the powertrain being designed by Heinz Paschen. The car was the first to have been designed fully by BMW, following their purchase of the former Sauber team. Initial pre-season testing was very positive, with many speculating that BMW could surprise some of the top teams with their performances when the season got underway.
The Sauber C21 was the car with which the Sauber team competed in the 2002 Formula One World Championship. The car was driven by Nick Heidfeld, Felipe Massa and Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
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 Sauber C22 was the car with which the Sauber Petronas team competed in the 2003 Formula One World Championship.
Enrique Hector Scalabroni is an Argentinian race car designer, technical director, and team racing boss. He was employed by Dallara, Williams, Ferrari, Lotus and Peugeot Sport between 1985 and 2002, before setting up his own F3000 and GP2 team in 2003, BCN Competicion, which lasted till the end of 2008.
The Sauber C30 is a Formula One racing car developed by Sauber Motorsports for use in the 2011 Formula One season. As with the Sauber C29 the car is powered by a Ferrari engine, but with added capability to house Ferrari's customer KERS system.
The Sauber C31 was a Formula One racing car designed by Sauber for use in the 2012 Formula One season. The car was driven by Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Pérez. Technical director James Key announced that he was leaving the team just four days before the C31 was due to be launched at Jerez de la Frontera.
The Sauber C33 is a Formula One racing car designed by Sauber to compete in the 2014 Formula One season. It was driven by Esteban Gutiérrez and Adrian Sutil, who joined the team after Nico Hülkenberg returned to Force India. The C33 was designed to use Ferrari's new 1.6-litre V6 turbocharged engine, the 059/3.
The Sauber C35 is a Formula One racing car designed by Sauber to compete in the 2016 Formula One season. The car was driven by Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr, and used the Ferrari 061 power unit.
The Sauber C36 is a Formula One racing car designed and constructed by Sauber to compete during the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship. The car was driven by Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein, who joined the team after Felipe Nasr left the team at the end of the 2016 season. Antonio Giovinazzi drove the car in Wehrlein's place after a pre-season injury saw Wehrlein withdraw from the opening two rounds of the season as a precaution. The C36 made its competitive début at the 2017 Australian Grand Prix, and uses a 2016-specification Ferrari engine.
The Sauber C37 is a Formula One racing car designed and constructed by Sauber to compete during the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship. The car was driven by Marcus Ericsson and reigning Formula 2 champion Charles Leclerc, who replaced Pascal Wehrlein. The C37 made its competitive début at the 2018 Australian Grand Prix and uses a 2018-specification Ferrari engine. This was the last car to be raced under the Sauber name as they were renamed as Alfa Romeo for the 2019 season, although the team's structure has remained unchanged.
Ferrari manufactured a series of 3.0-litre, naturally-aspirated, V10 racing engines, exclusively for their Formula One race cars; between 1996 and 2005. They chose a V10 engine configuration, because it offered the best compromise between power and fuel efficiency; the V12 was powerful but thirsty while the V8 was weaker but economical. They switched to 2.4-litre naturally-aspirated V8 engine configuration for 2006. Over its decade-long evolution, power levels varied; from 715 hp @ 15,500 rpm in 1996, to over 900 horsepower, around 935 hp @ 19,000 rpm, toward the end of the 2005 season. The Tipo 05 series of engines, produced between 2001 and 2005, was officially stated to produce between 825 hp @ 17,800 rpm, and 865 hp @ 18,300 rpm. In qualifying mode, however, these engine were reputed to develop up to, or at times over, 900 horsepower (670 kW) at 19,000 rpm.
The BMW E41 and P80 series is a family of naturally-aspirated Formula One racing engines, designed and developed by BMW, and introduced in 2000 in partnership with Williams, and continued through 2006, during their partnership with Sauber.