Goodbye Peter Sauber

Peter Sauber, founder, owner and team principal of the Sauber Formula One team says goodbye of the Formula One at the end of the season. The Sauber Team has been bought out by BMW who will go on in Formula One without Williams. But who is Peter Sauber?

Peter Sauber was born on October 13th, 1943 in Zurich, Switzerland. He started his career in motorsport in 1967 with versions of the meanwhile legendary VW beetle tuned for racing. Yet even back then the primary fascination which motor racing held for him was the development of leading-edge technology. Whenever Sauber would take the wheel himself in those early day, he did this mainly to personally test the viability of his ideas.

The foundation of PP Sauber AG in Hinwil in 1970 marked Peter Sauber's departure from 'beetle tuning'. Instead Sauber started to build two-seater racing sportscars. With the C1 designed in the basement of his parents' home in the city of Zurich, he immediately won the Swiss Championship title. After that, Sauber took the wheel himself on only a few more occasions. When he last put on the helmet in 1973 he had completely shifted his activities to the engineering and design area.

As the model designation for his cars Sauber has chosen the initial 'C' of his wife's first name, Christiane. Over the years, he created his line of sportscars, up to the C8. In 1986, Peter Sauber sold the garage business and moved into new facilities in Hinwil, where the successful sportscars, C9, C11 and C291, were built.

In 1992, Sauber moved into the nearby high-tech factory, where the C12 - Sauber's first Formula One car - was completed. This was the car with which the team had its Grand Prix debut the following year. By now the range has ascended to the C24.

Now the Formula One world says goodbye to Peter Sauber and his Sauber Team. The Team has been bought out by BMW and so the name Sauber disappears from the Formula One grid.