(Feature Image: Autosport)
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This week we saw the unveiling of Sauber’s new Stake sponsored car and while we were blown away by the rather stunning black and green affair, there is a rather large issue hiding below the surface.
Thankfully, however, Sauber have experience from last season to get around this issue. This has been explained by team principal Alessandro Alunni Bravi.
“As you know, last year we alternated two different names according to the different countries where we go racing”. Alunni continued, “We will be fully complying with all the local applicable laws and where Stake is prohibited, so gambling advertising is prohibited, we will use a different name”.
“As last year, we have Kick as one of our important partners – our chassis name is Kick Sauber – so where we are not going to race as Stake F1 Team, we will use a second team name.”
Stake initially joined Sauber as a sponsor last season, so Sauber have had experience of this already. Kick also appeared on the car multiple times last season, even appearing in a one-off livery for the Belgian GP weekend.
As Sauber are due to become Audi from 2026, these two years preceding this take over allows Sauber to let their hair down and create a new image to go out with a bang. This is certainly reflected in this year’s fluorescent livery and the striking launch event attended by well known VIP’s and influencers.
Alunni Bravi said at the event, “ For me it’s been fantastic so far. And I think today, you see a kind of testament of intent of all we are going to do during the season. This is just the first moment, but we have a lot of activities, a lot of activities that we will be performing throughout the season”.
He continued, “Of course there are under the Stake umbrella different brand, including gaming, including betting, but it’s a company that is very dynamic and that will help us to really expand our fan base, and to reach a new target that is very important for our team and all of our partners.”
After years of following the stringent style of the Alfa Romeo brand, Alunni Bravi is relieved to have more control over the image of his team.
“This year, of course, for us it’s easier: we have a new and clear identity,” he said. “We start here with an event that I think is a testament of what we want to do with a new motto for the team, ‘unleashed’, that for us means really the way we want to communicate, the way we want to be perceived.”
“Of course, this also needs to be supported by the results on track. We are all working together to deliver a better job and more performance. It is important that we have everything.”
“An F1 team is not just a racing team. Of course, it’s a large operation. And we need to work on all the areas, on track, off track, on the technical side, also on the commercial side. And with Stake I think we will achieve important targets that will bring an added value also to F1.”
Away from this excitement, Stake F1 have been warned by legal experts that they may face fines in their own home country. Legal expert, Patrick Krouskopf, has said that Sauber are most likely in breach of the gambling advertising ban. Krouskopf, who works as a professor of competition law at the Zurich University of applied Sciences, explains, “Sponsorship would be permitted. In this case, however, the Stake and Sauber brands are so closely linked, or the term Stake is so intensely imprinted in the minds of spectators, that we have probably crossed the red line into unauthorised advertising.”
Further to this warning, the Swiss Federal Gambling Commission are beginning to open proceedings against the newly created Stake F1 team, with fines potentially reaching 500,000 Swiss francs.
Alunni Bravi remains unfazed by these proceedings, “We always comply with all applicable laws, including in Switzerland. And of course we have taken all measures to comply with them.”
Hopefully these off-track issues don’t distract this exciting project too much, because this last hurrah before the Audi years promise a lot of fun for the team, the fans and hopefully their talented drivers Valterri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.
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