BMW Sauber

BMW Sauber F1 is a Formula One team with bases in Hinwil, Switzerland and Munich, Germany. The team was formed at the end of 2005 as a result of a takeover of the existing Sauber Formula One team by German car manufacturer BMW. The team scored two podium finishes and came fifth in 2006, its first season in Formula One. This was followed by a 2nd place in 2007 after the McLaren team had been excluded from the championship. The team gained its first win in 2008.

Sauber
Peter Sauber built his first car in 1970. Sauber competed in sports car racing during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1989 it became the Mercedes-Benz works team, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1989 and the World Sportscar Championship in 1989 and 1990.
The Swiss team entered Formula One in the 1993 season, with support from Mercedes. The partnership with Mercedes lasted until 1994. Sauber used Ferrari engines, badged as Petronas, from 1997 to 2005. Sauber never scored a race win, pole position, or fastest lap in Formula One. The team's most successful season was 2001, when it finished fourth in the constructors' championship.

BMW Motorsport
German car manufacturer BMW competed in Formula One as an engine supplier from 1982 - 1987 and from 2000 - 2005. Nelson Piquet won the 1983 drivers' world championship in a Brabham-BMW. During 2005 BMW ended its engine supply agreement with the Williams team and bought Sauber. Peter Sauber remained with the team as a consultant.

BMW Sauber F1
BMW Sauber put "Thank You" messages towards Michael Schumacher on the back of their cars for the German's last Grand Prix in Brazil.
For the 2006 season BMW Sauber signed Nick Heidfeld from Williams to be their lead driver, while 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve had his existing Sauber contract confirmed. Pole Robert Kubica was signed as the team's third driver. The team continued to use Sauber's facilities, mostly for chassis construction and wind tunnel testing, while BMW's headquarters in Munich were responsible for building the new P86 V8 engine.
Former Sauber title sponsor Petronas renewed their contract with the new team, as a simple team sponsor, as did Credit Suisse. For the new season BMW Sauber announced a technical partnership with Intel, claiming that it will eventually lead to technological improvements available on BMW road cars. The new livery, unveiled in Valencia on 17 January 2006, was the traditional BMW blue and white with a hint of red.

Jacques Villeneuve scored the team's first points with a seventh place finish at the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix, after Heidfeld retired from fifth with an engine failure late in the race. Over the first two thirds of the season the drivers picked up points with a succession of seventh and eighth place finishes. The team ran a radical "twin towers" aero enhancement on the front of the car for the race in Magny-Cours, France, which was meant to direct airflow to the rear and thus improve performance. This unconventional add-on was promptly banned by the FIA as it was adjudged to impede the drivers' vision and thus compromise safety.

Heidfeld scored the team's first podium at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix from 10th on the grid. Kubica stood in for Villeneuve, BMW stating that Villeneuve couldn't drive due to medical complications following his accident at the German Grand Prix. Kubica finished seventh, although he was later disqualified for an underweight car. After the Hungarian Grand Prix, BMW announced that Kubica would complete the season for the Swiss team, spelling the end of former world champion Villeneuve's F1 career.

Kubica scored BMW Sauber's second podium of the season at the Italian Grand Prix, after running in third place for most of the race and leading briefly during the first round of pit stops. Heidfeld struggled in the race and barely earned a point by finishing eighth. The team's fifth place in the constructor's championship was cemented by Heidfeld's two further points at the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix, and Toyota's early double retirement from the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix.