Sauber not confirming official 2011 name yet

Sauber is not yet officially confirming its new team name for the 2011 season.

This year, despite the German carmaker pulling out of formula one before the 2010 season, the Hinwil based team was still known as ‘BMW Sauber F1 Team’.

Former owner Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) agreed to let Sauber keep the acronym in its official title in order to not jeopardise the team’s commercial income due to finishing the 2009 constructors’ championship in sixth place.

But a name change for 2011 will not jeopardise Sauber’s income, due to its fellow teams and the governing FIA agreeing in June to permit the tweak ahead of the next world championship season.

Sauber’s current press releases are issued in the name of its Swiss company Sauber Motorsport AG, but it is believed that in 2011 the official team title will be ‘Sauber F1 Team’.

A team spokesman said this week: “We will communicate the name in due time.”

The team’s managing director Monisha Kaltenborn is quoted by Basler Zeitung: “We have the (F1) Commission’s approval to delete BMW from our name after the end of the (2010) season.”

The report said the final name is not yet published because it might include a new title sponsor that has not been announced.

 © RIF | GMM