Sauber to Announce New F1 Name Soon

BMW Sauber-Ferrari F1 Team is yet to announce its official name for the 2011 season of Formula One. The Swiss squad maintained the name “BMW” in its designation throughout this year, despite the fact that the German carmaker (Bayerische Motoren Werke AG in its full name) had left the series at the end of 2009.

However, when Peter Sauber managed to salvage his F1 ship from going bankrupt, he also convinced the carmaker to let his team use its name in the series, in order to benefit from the commercial income due to finishing the 2009 constructors' championship in sixth place.

Fortunately for the Hinwil based organization, this will no longer be necessary, as the International Automobile Federation (FIA) and the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) agreed to a rule change starting with the 2011 season, during a meeting they held in June. Consequently, Sauber's organization will receive the prize money for their 2010 classification in 2011, without having to wear the BMW tag once more.

During the 2010 campaign in F1, the team's press releases were issued under the Sauber Motorsport AG name. According to reports, no major changes are planned for 2011 in terms of the team's title, as the squad is likely to adopt a simple Sauber F1 Team designation. That unless a major investor comes in and signs a title sponsorship deal with Sauber, which would be a win-win situation for all parties involved.

“We have the (F1) Commission's approval to delete BMW from our name after the end of the (2010) season,” the team's managing director Monisha Kaltenborn is quoted by Basler Zeitung. Additionally, a team spokesman confirmed “We will communicate the name in due time.”