Peter Sauber

The 2016 Formula One season saw Sauber back on the grid with financial troubles. In July 2016 Longbow Finance, a Swiss investment company, bought Sauber Motorsport gaining complete ownership. With the sale, Peter Sauber announced his retirement from motorsport with Pascal Picci taking his position at the company.

The most successful of the early Sauber cars, the C5 was used to great effect in conjunction with its 2-litre BMW engine—taking the 1976 Interserie Championship in the hands of Herbert Muller.

In July 2009, BMW announced its withdrawal from Formula One at the end of the season. Peter Sauber worked with BMW to develop a rescue package that would allow the team to continue in the sport without the manufacturer's backing. Qadbak Investments Ltd were thought to have purchased the team, but on 27 November 2009 it was announced that the Qadbak deal had fallen through and BMW had instead reached an agreement to sell the entire F1 operation back to Peter Sauber.

In June 2005, BMW acquired the major shareholding stake in the Sauber team from Credit Suisse, which owned more than 60% of the team from a deal Peter Sauber initiated in 1994 selling a majority stake of the team to its major sponsor. It was done with Peter Sauber's blessing, the team was known as BMW Sauber, and Peter took a background advisory role within it, retaining a 20% stake in the team.

Sauber now began to look seriously at launching an F1 team. In the summer of 1991 Harvey Postlethwaite joined the team to design an F1 car and Mercedes funded a vast new factory at Hinwil.

In 1985, the team's relationship with Mercedes-Benz began. This sports car partnership culminated in November 1991 – having ignited the career of Michael Schumacher and Sauber's own protégé, Karl Wendlinger.

In 1982, with BASF sponsorship, Sauber returned to sports car racing. The C6 was the first car to be tested in a wind tunnel by Sauber. It was during these tests that Sauber built up a strong relationship with Leo Ress, who would later become instrumental in the F1 project.

In 1980, and 1981, Sauber and Welti turned their attentions to developing BMW M1 sportscars, in the latter year it won the 1000km Nürburgring.

1979 marked the end of Sauber's first foray into sports car building – and the start of preparing chassis for Lola F2 cars. The drivers finished 1–2–4 in the championship that year – one of them was Max Welti, who subsequently joined the team as team manager.

Being a Group 6 sports car, the car was allowed to take part in the legendary Le Mans 24 heures race, and Sauber entered the C5 in both 1977 and 1978. In '77 the car led its class before retiring; the same thing happened in '78.

The C4 of 1975 heralded the first aluminium chassis developed by the team, and Boisson was joined by Edy Wiss in designing it. Only one C4 was ever produced.

Sauber had started to gain a portfolio of customers and in 1973, Sauber built three C3 spec chassis for different customers. Designed by Guy Boisson, the car was used predominantly in the Swiss Sports Car Championship.

In 1971, Sauber handed over the driver's seat to Hans Kunis, who drove the new Sauber C2 model in the same series, as Peter himself had done so the year before.

After opting not to run the family traffic light business, Peter built the Sauber C1 (the C stands for Christiane, the name of Peter Sauber's wife) in his parents' basement. It was a car of tubular frame, powered by a 1-litre Ford Cosworth engine. He subsequently drove it to the 1970 Swiss hillclimb championship. It also remained in racing for ten years in the hands of other drivers, notably Friedrich Hürzeler, who took the 1974 crown in the car.

Sauber's motorsport connection was somewhat paradoxical, given that racing in his native land had been banned after the Le Mans tragedy of 1955. However, he still managed to compete in hillclimbing events in the Volkswagen Beetle he had purchased and thus the foundations for his first project as a team owner were laid.

Peter Sauber (born 13 October 1943) is a retired Swiss motorsport executive. He was the team principal and owner of various motorsports teams, most visibly the eponymous Sauber Formula One team.