Stake F1 Team set to change names during the season
The Sauber-run Stake F1 Team is set to change its name across the 2024 F1 season, using the Kick F1 team banner at races where gambling advertisement is prohibited.
The Hinwil-based F1 outfit is set embark on a weird period of time as former title sponsor Alfa Romeo left the team at the end of 2023, and the team still needs to complete two F1 seasons ahead of its transformation into the Audi works team.
Expanding on the team's identity, Team Representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi said: "We have announced the chassis name as Kick Sauber and we have a new team identity, Stake F1.
"So our new team identity is not that we forget Sauber. We are the Sauber group, we are a solid group of people working together, but we present ourselves in the F1 community with a new team identity for the next two seasons.
"This is important for us, it is not just a commercial partnership but it is the way we want to approach the F1 world, where creativity, innovation and ingenuity are part of our marketing strategy.
"This is also important to provide the team with all the means and resources to approach the next two seasons that will see ourselves in a strong transformation process. It's not that we forget Sauber - we are the Sauber Group - but our team in F1 is Stake F1."
With the departure of Alfa Romeo, the Sauber-run F1 squad was forced to find a new key sponsor with Stake offering the best partnership. Stake.com is an Australian-Curaçaoan online casino, and was founded in 2017. Since then, it has expanded its services, having also opened Stake.us to offer service to players in the United States.
The gambling site offers traditional casino games (such as slots, blackjack and roulette) and sports betting. It also offers video streams with live dealers.
Since its foundation, Stake.com has invested in sponsorship deals across several sports, including with UFC fighter Israel Adesanya, English football teams Gillingham, Watford, Everton, Indian football club Mumbai City, Argentine footballer Sergio Agüero, Formula One reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi and his brother, Formula 2 driver Enzo Fittipaldi, Canadian musician Drake.
While the sponsorship agreement between the Hinwil-based F1 team and Stake seems to work without any limitations at first, the rules revolving around gambling advertisement are set to cause headaches to the F1 team and its name-giving sponsor.
Eight of the 24 host nations – Qatar, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Bahrain, China and Brazil – all have some kind of restriction on gambling while Stake is banned from advertising in Australia.
The team will give up on the Stake banner in countries where gambling advertisement rules prohibit the use of such a name, and will use the Kick F1 Team instead.
Kick is a live streaming service, and is operated by Kick Streaming Pty Ltd and backed by Stake.com co-founders Bijan Tehrani, Ed Craven, meaning that the main sponsor will be the same behind both names.
Alunni Bravi explained: "We will be fully compliant with all the local applicable laws and where Stake is permitted. So where gambling advertising is prohibited, we will use a different name.
"As last year, we have Kick as one of our most important partners - the car launch was streamed live on Kick.com, our chassis name is Kick Sauber, so where we will not be racing as Stake, we will use the second team name."
