Sauber, founded and managed by Peter Sauber, is a Formula One team based in Hinwil , Switzerland. The team's first Formula One season was in 1993.

It has close ties with Ferrari. Sauber uses Ferrari designed engines and gearboxes built by Sauber PETRONAS Engineering (a company founded for the sole purpose of building these engines) that are nearly identical to the ones used by Ferrari. Sauber licences nearly every legally licensable part from Ferrari and even has several Ferrari engineers on staff. Many have pointed out the suspicious similarity between the Ferrari and Sauber chassis, but no formal accusations have ever been made. (FIA rules require each team to design their own chassis). In fact, Sauber have just spent a large sum of money on a new wind tunnel at Hinwil , and a high performance supercomputer called 'Albert' to help refine the aerodynamics of their cars.

Recently, Sauber's links with Ferrari have been becoming weaker. They sided with the non-Ferrari teams over planned rule changes at the end of the 2004 season and also appear to have joined up with GPWC. Then they decided to switch to Michelin tyres (Ferrari use Bridgestones). Furthermore, at the start of 2005, WilliamsF1 revealed that their engine partners BMW would also supply Sauber from the 2006 Formula One season onwards. Sauber would appear to have severed all ties with Ferrari.

Before the engagement in Formula One, Sauber participated in some other racings such as the Swiss and international sportscars championship or the 24 hours of Le Mans. The first Sauber car C1 was built in 1970.

Drivers

The following drivers have started for the Sauber Formula One team.

• JJ Lehto
• Karl Wendlinger
• Heinz-Harald Frentzen
• Andrea de Cesaris
• Jean-Christophe Boullion
• Norberto Fontana
• Nicola Larini
• Johnny Herbert
• Jean Alesi
• Pedro Diniz
• Mika Salo
• Nick Heidfeld
• Kimi Räikkönen
• Felipe Massa
• Giancarlo Fisichella
• Jacques Villeneuve

External link

• Official site