Sauber Motorsport have changed their team name for the upcoming F1 season.
In 2024, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu will be racing for Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber.
The re-branding comes following the departure of title sponsor Alfa Romeo.
The Sporting News takes a closer look at the name change.
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Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber: Name change, explained
There are a few components to this new team name, so let’s break them down.
Stake
Stake.com is an online casino and gambling platform.
The company was founded by Australian-based entrepreneurs Bijan Tehrani and Edward Craven but is operated by Medium Rare NV in Curaçao.
It holds an online casino licence and is a global company.
Notably, rapper Drake is an ambassador for Stake and is regularly involved in online promotion of the brand.
Stake was a co-title partner of the team in 2023 but now hold full naming rights of the operation.
Kick
Kick is a video live-streaming platform that rivals popular site Twitch.
It is a relatively new venture, incepted in Australia in late 2022.
There is an existing relationship between Stake and Kick – it is parted-owned by Tehrani, while Craven is the current CEO.
The platform has also been criticised for its “lax moderation and embrace of online gambling,” per The New York Times.
Sauber
The addition of Sauber to the end of the team refers to Sauber Motorsport AG – a Swiss motorsport engineering company.
As a company, they entered F1 in 1993 as Team Sauber.
Since then, they have participated under various monikers, including Red Bull Sauber, Sauber Petronas, BMW Sauber, and Alfa Romeo.
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New era, same team spirit 💚🖤
🙏 @ValtteriBottas
🙏 @ZhouGuanyu24 pic.twitter.com/k5k1guQQHd— Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber (@stakef1team_ks) February 29, 2024
When will Sauber re-brand to Audi?
The current team name will only exist for two seasons, with the Swiss team to re-brand as Audi in 2026.
They will become the German manufacturer’s factory team.
Who is the Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber team principal?
Interestingly, Sauber does not technically have a designated team principal.
However, Alessandro Alunni Bravi will be front and centre as the ‘team representative’.
The 49-year-old has a long history in motorsport and was previously the managing director at Trident Racing.
On top of this, he is experienced in the legal field, having worked as general counsel of ART Grand Prix and Spark Racing Technology.
Bravi will be working closely with Sauber CEO Andreas Seidl – McLaren’s former team principal.
