Dec.7 (GMM) Peter Sauber and his wife Christiane – the ‘C’ behind every Sauber chassis name for three decades – have travelled to Abu Dhabi for one final goodbye to the team that will disappear forever at the end of Sunday’s race.
From 2026, Sauber becomes Audi. And as Blick reports, the 82-year-old founder wanted to see the last laps of a Sauber-badged car – the C45 – in person, alongside the woman whose initial has been carried by every machine since 1993.
But the real headline came over apple pie.
Sauber told Blick that seven time world champion Lewis Hamilton very nearly began his F1 career not with McLaren, but with Sauber.
“Hardly anyone knows that around 20 years ago, Lewis Hamilton almost drove for us,” the Swiss revealed. “He belonged to McLaren, and they wanted to send him to Hinwil for his Formula 1 apprenticeship.”
A meeting was arranged at Zurich’s Kloten Airport – Hamilton, his father and then-manager Anthony, Peter Sauber, and Sauber lawyer Monisha Kaltenborn.
“The deal fell through because McLaren only wanted to loan him for one year – but we insisted on two,” Sauber said.
Hamilton instead debuted directly for McLaren in 2007, finishing on the podium nine times in his first nine races and winning three grands prix and almost the title.