Sauber – currently branded as the Stake F1 Team – are reportedly considering a name change for the 2025 season, one year ahead of their transition to Audi ownership. The Hinwil-based outfit will become a factory team in 2026 but are in limbo until then.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi’s team rebranded from Alfa Romeo to Stake F1 Team over the winter, launching a striking neon green and black livery in association with their title sponsor, an online casino with links to global superstars such as Drake and Sergio Aguero.
According to F1 journalist Julianne Cerasoli, their involvement with the team could soon be over. Appearing on the Pit Pass podcast, she explained that Stake could leave the table at the end of the season with sister company Kick – already the chassis sponsor – taking over title duties.
This would mean a new livery for the team, and help ease difficulties produced by bans on gambling sponsors in certain countries in which F1 races. Currently, Sauber have to swap out their Stake branding in Australia, Belgium, Spain and Qatar with Kick taking over the reins.
Whatever happens to the branding of the car, Sauber will need to take significant steps forward on the track in 2025. The Hinwil-based team have failed to score a point this season and are dropping off the back of the field, rather than closing up to the likes of Williams, VCARB and Alpine.
The team have also experienced regular personnel changes with Andreas Seidl and Oliver Hoffmann removed from the project in July and former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto brought on board to lead Sauber into their Audi transition.
Sauber’s driver line-up has also been a source of stress. Nico Hulkenberg became the second driver to make his move in the driver market after Lewis Hamilton, signing for the Audi project long-term, but his team-mate is still yet to be announced.
Valtteri Bottas, Franco Colapinto and Gabriel Bortoleto have all been heavily linked, but the latest reports suggest that the former will be the man to partner with Hulkenberg in 2025 with a one-year contract extension expected to be announced soon.
The former Mercedes and Williams star believes that Sauber’s miserable performance in 2024 has affected his standing in the driver market. “If anything, you keep getting better with experience, you gain more consistency, more confidence,” he said in Singapore.
“You can solve different issues in a different way and you can adapt to the car the more time you spend in the sport. So I feel, actually, I’m driving better than what I did at Mercedes. But obviously, it’s not that visible.”
