A detailed look at the profile of Formula 1 team, Sauber – Part 2
Sauber, one of the driver building teams of Formula 1 has been producing some amazing drivers for the sport and the team is still up and running and producing some pretty amazing young drivers who possible would be driving for the top running teams and chasing
for the world titles in the future.
Sauber have produced drivers like Kimi Raikkonen, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Nick Heidfeld, Felipe Massa and some others as well who have proved during their respective times that they indeed are one of the best in the sport.
However, their respective journeys began with Sauber and one has to admit that the first couple of teams in a driver’s career are the most important ones rather than the ones the driver later on settles in.
Sauber introduced Kimi Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld in 2001 and scored its best statistical performance that year after which they signed Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Felipe Massa to the team as well since Raikkonen left the team to join McLaren.
Kimi stayed with McLaren until the 2007 Formula 1 season after that and secured the title in 2007 with Ferrari before retiring from the sport in 2009.
The team secured the 5th place in the 2002 Formula 1 season after scoring 11 points. It was a satisfactory performance for the team after which they decided to keep Frentzen and Heidfeld for another season.
Sauber scored the 6th place in the constructors’ standings in the 2003 Formula 1 season with the help of 19 points and a podium position which was quite impressive for the team as they were not performing very well as compared to
the rest of the mid-running teams of the sport.
However, 2004 brought some major changes to the drivers’ line-up of Sauber as they had to find two new drivers as a result of which they signed Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella for a year.
The team scored the 6th place once again in the constructors’ standings with the help of 34 points which was quite satisfactory for the team as they scored points consistently throughout the season.
It was time to let Fisichella go as he had to join Renault for the 2005 Formula 1 season. This was a very good decision for him as he helped Renault in securing the constructors’ title that year alongside Fernando Alonso.
Alonso on the other hand secured the drivers’ title as well and the two drivers successfully defended the titles for another year as they won the 2006 championships as well.
Nevertheless, Sauber kept Felipe Massa for the 2005 Formula 1 season and signed the former Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve to secure the 8th place in the constructors’ standings with the help of 20 points.
After that, the team sort of changed its form and then return to its original form in 2011 recently and decided to shift from BMW engines to Ferrari engines.
However the team’s management and administration was pretty much the same in these ‘in between’ years as well and they secured some pretty decent results throughout this time as well with the help of drivers like Kamui Kobayashi, Robert Kubica, Sebastian
Vettel and Pedro de la Rosa.
The team is hoping to build itself even more and one has to admit that they might become one of the bigger teams if they push harder in the future.
Tags: