The Sauber team celebrates its 40th anniversary

If the Sauber team arrived in Formula 1 in 1993, she was born much earlier. Peter Sauber, in 1970, created his own team, starting very modestly. He admits today, this approach was above all that of a enthusiast. “We set up the project to build two sports cars, but if we had studied the economic merits of building and selling racing cars in Switzerland, it would all have made no sense. Fortunately, the reasonable approach does not always prevail! »

During its first two decades, Sauber focused its efforts on touring and endurance, notably participating in the World Sports Car Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. " The 24 Hours of Le Mans are particularly trying, specifies Sauber. With all the preparations for the race, you barely have time to sleep during the week. If you see your cars giving up mid-race, it's over for you, physically and mentally. More than once, I called my wife from Le Mans to tell her: “It’s over now, I’ve had enough.” ».

But, fortunately, Peter Sauber never gave up and knew how to build strong partnerships. For example, BMW in F1, but also Mercedes in the 80s, allowing the Etoile brand to have its name appear in the entry list for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, despite the dramatic double-clock accident in 1955. In 1989, Team Sauber Mercedes notably succeeded, in addition to successes in the WSCC, in achieving a double at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the victory of the Sauber C9? Mercedes-Benz of Jochen Mass, Manuel Reuter and Stanley Dickens, one of Peter Sauber's greatest prides.

« I am proud to have achieved this from Switzerland. Then, these are two large German companies with a long history. In 2005, the German automobile association, ADAC, gave me an award in recognition of what I had achieved. This has not gone completely unnoticed! » In addition to the victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, F1 also brought great emotions to Peter Sauber: “ the double of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld during the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. »

But Sauber's journey has not been punctuated by success. The Swiss businessman has bad memories of his beginnings in F1. The worst ? “ Without a doubt, the very serious accident suffered by Karl Wendlinger in Monaco in 1994, which caused him to be in a 19-day coma. Then Robert Kubica's terrible accident in Montreal, in 2007. Finally, it ended well since Robert still drives in F1, and Karl drives GTs (in the GT1 World Championship). I am grateful that they are able to do this. »