BMW SAUBER
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BMW Sauber
The BMW Sauber F1 Team, founded by
Peter Sauber, is a Formula
One team based in Hinwil, Switzerland and Munich, Germany. The team competed as Sauber from 1993 until its takeover by the German carmaker BMW in 2005. Peter Sauber remains as a consultant.
BMW Formula History
1940s and 1950s
In the early days of BMW's existence, the company used its sporty 328 model as the basis for their efforts into the Formula 2 series, a stepping stone to Formula 1 which did sometimes participate in F1 races. BMW themselves ran their own team, but other smaller teams like Veritas, AFM, and Jicey also used the 328's powerplant. However upon the death of the initial F2 series in 1955, and its resurrection in 1956, BMW's management decided not to involve itself in open wheel racing.
1960s
In 1967 the Formula 2 regulations were changed to allow 1600cc motors, and BMW's new management was more open to the idea of open wheel racing then before. In the 1968 season, BMW joined with Lola, using their 100 chassis with drivers Jo Siffert and Hubert Hahne.
For 1969, the team switched to Lola 102s, and used a new development of their 1600cc engine dubbed the M12. Siffert and Hahne remained, with Gerhard Mitter and Dieter Quester sharing a third car. Halfway through the season BMW debuted their own chassis, the 269, at the Hockenheimring. Unfortunately, Mitter was killed during development of the 269.
1970s
For the 1970 F2 season, BMW debuted the 270 chassis, and campaigned with Jo Siffert, Herbert Hahne, Dieter Quester, and Jacky Ickx. The team was successful in winning every race of the season. However in 1971, BMW's involvement was pulled back, with the team only supplying engines for Dieter Quester's Eifelland. With a change in the F2 engine regulations to 2000ccs, BMW went on haitus for the 1972 season.
Upon BMW's return to F2 again in 1973, the company was again only supplying engines. Although officially backing the March team's effort for drivers Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Jean-Pierre Jarier, they also supplied engines for teams like Beta Racing and Brian Lewis Racing. From 1973 to the end of Formula 2 in 1984, BMW supplied engines to the championship winning drivers in 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, and 1982.
1980s
In 1980, BMW announced their development of a turbocharged motor for the Brabham F1 team. The engine first raced in the 1982 season. The M12/13 engine was a success, taking its first win at the Canadian Grand Prix in its first season at the hands of Nelson Piquet, with Riccardo Patrese being the team's other driver. The following season, BMW supplied engines to the ATS team, but the factory-backed Brabham took 4 victories on its way to Nelson Piquet winning the driver's championship. 2 more victories came in 1984, and BMW also added Arrows to their list of teams who received their engines. 1985 saw a single win for Piquet's Brabham, who was now teamed with Marc Surer.
1986 saw BMW start to supply engines for the new Benetton team, who earned the only win for a BMW engine at the hands of Gerhard Berger. However the factory backed effort at Brabham met with little success from the returning Riccardo Patrese and David Warwick. At the end of the 1986 season, BMW announced it would drop out of Formula 1 at the end of the 1987 season.
BMW's M12/13 engine however did not end there, as Megatron bought the rights to the engines for the Arrows team to continue using. The Ligier team was also supplied with the engine for the 1987 season. Following the 1988 season, turbocharged motors were banned and Arrows ended its use of the former BMW engine.
The BMW M12/13 Turbocharged I4 engine was famous during its life for being the first Formula 1 engine capable of 1000hp in racing trim, although it was capable of nearly 1400hp for qualifying with modification of its boost.
2000s
BMW had various touring and sportscar successes throughout the rest of the 1980s and 1990s following its exit from Formula 1. However in 1997 BMW announced they had developed a partnership with the Williams Grand Prix Engineering. The initial development of this partnership was BMW's sportscar effort, using chassis built by Williams and using BMW V12 motors. This culminated in BMW's successful victory at the 1999 24 Hours of LeMans with the BMW V12 LMR.
Following this triumph, the second stage of BMW's partnership with Williams began, with BMW developing the powerful E41 V10 for Formula 1. The new Williams-BMW debuted in the 2000 season, driven by Ralf Schumacher and Jenson Button. 2001 saw great success for the team, with Schumacher taking 3 wins and newcomer Juan Pablo Montoya taking his first win as well. A lone win for Schumacher followed in 2002, but Williams-BMW returned to success in 2003 with 2 wins a piece for Schumacher and Montoya, while 2004 was again a lone win, this time for Montoya.
2005 saw a rapid decline in the partnership between BMW and Williams. Constant disagrements over the cause of technical failures in the car led BMW to end evolution of the P84/5 V10 as the season went on, leading to no victories for the teams new driver line-up of Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld and the car falling behind the rest of the field, finishing a distant 5th in the constructor's championship. The partnership came to a complete end when BMW announced they had bought the Sauber team, planning to take over them as a factory effort for 2006, the first by BMW, and also leaving Williams scrambling for a new engine deal.
Sauber Formula 1 History
- Main article: Sauber
Sauber was well known for their efforts in sportscar racing during the 1970s and 1980s, especially in winning the 24 Hours of LeMans in 1989 and the season championship in 1989 and 1990 for Mercedes-Benz. The World Sportscar Championship switched to expensive F1-like engines and was discontinued in 1992, leaving Sauber with no series to race in.
Sauber then entered Formula 1 in 1993 with Ilmor V10s engines that carried Mercedes badges. The C12 chassis was built by Sauber with help from Mercedes. Driver were by JJ Lehto and Karl Wendlinger. This project continued into 1994 until Mercedes announced their intentions to pair with the McLaren team at the end of the season.
For 1995 Sauber was forced to switch to Ford Zetec-R V8s, but also received a major boost in funding from new primary sponsor Red Bull, later joined by Petronas in 1996. For 1997 Sauber signed a deal to race customer Ferrari V10s, although the engines would be badged as Petronas through an agreement with their sponsor. This made Sauber into a quasi-junior team for Ferrari, with Sauber gaining trusted technological advancements from Ferrari, as well at the same time testing new advancements for the Scuderia.
In 2002, Sauber had their most successful season ever, finishing 4th in the constructor's championship, however for most of its time as Sauber-Petronas, the team was a consistent mid-pack effort.
For the 2005 season, Sauber's ties with Ferrari began to be broken, with Sauber announcing their switch from Bridgestone tires, which it shared with Ferrari, to the opposing Michelin tires. Peter Sauber also made his intentions clear that he sided with the GPWC, a possible future break-off series that Ferrari was opposed to. However Sauber's separation from Ferrari became complete with BMW's buying of the outfit for 2006.
Sauber were never able to score a race win, pole position, or fast lap throughout their 13 seasons in Formula 1, even though they were common point scorers and occasionally earned podium finishes.
BMW Sauber F1 in 2006
BMW Sauber F1.06. launched on 17th January 2006.
For the 2006 season the new BMW Sauber F1 Team has signed Nick Heidfeld from Williams to be their lead driver, while 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve has had his contract with Sauber retained for the final year. The test third driver for the team will be Robert Kubica of Poland. The team will continue to use Sauber's facilities, mostly for chassis construction and wind tunnel testing, while BMW's headquarters in Munich will be responsible for building the new P86 V8.
BMW Sauber F1 Team announced a technical partnership with Intel, which will eventually lead to technological improvements available on BMW road cars. Former Sauber title sponsor Petronas renewed their contract with the new team, although merely as a simple team sponsor. Credit Suisse will also remain, completing the trifecta of primary sponsors for the team.
The team used a plain white livery in testing with the BMW symbol on the nosecone and the motto "BMW Power" on the reverse of the rear wing.
The new livery, unveiled in Valencia on 17th January 2006, is the traditional BMW blue and white with a hint of red.