Sauber F1 founder recalls greatest memories ahead of Audi arrival

Peter Sauber has highlighted three of the most significant moments of his staggering motorsports career after finally bowing out of F1 earlier this month.

Sauber started his motorsports operation in 1970, building a car dubbed the 'C1' - the C a reference to his wife, Christiane - that was powered by a 1-litre Ford Cosworth, and went on to compete in that year's Swiss Hill Climb Championship.

It was not until 23 years later that Sauber entered Formula 1, with the C12, at the hands of Karl Wendlinger and JJ Lehto. The duo scored points in six of the 16 grands prix in 1993.

But three years particularly stand out for Sauber - 2001, 2008 and 2012 - with the latter when he took a definitive step back from the team he led for two decades from its factory in Switzerland.

Although that will remain the team's headquarters for next season, the Sauber name has now effectively disappeared from F1, with Audi taking up residence and set to make its first impression on the sport next year.

The 82-year-old Sauber was in attendance in Abu Dhabi earlier this month to watch the final race for his organisation, which over the past two years had been partnered by Stake.  

Although Sauber described the occasion as "special", he said he was "not too emotional" as he had known of the exit for more than a year.

There were, though, particular memories - and "more than one" - he recalled in speaking exclusively with RacingNews365.

"On one side, it's the double victory in Montreal, together with BMW - or BMW with us! Because it's important to win races," he said, referencing the one-two finish from Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld in the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix.

"But for me, the most important was the P4 [in the constructors' championship] in 2001 with more or less two rookies in Nick, after a bad year with Prost, and Kimi [Raikkonen]. With these two guys, to clinch P4 was fantastic."

It proved to be the team's highest finish over its first 14 seasons in F1, which exceeded expectations.

"Of course, I was surprised," he said. "But Kimi was an excellent driver that season. Nick was the better driver, but this combination was very good, and, of course, the car was okay. You need a good car.

"And then I go back to my end. I stepped back in 2012. That season we had four podiums, twice finishing P2, including beating Ferrari at Monza [that year, the team was powered by the Scuderia]."

Asked, though, to recall the driver he enjoyed working with the most, Sauber shied away from a definitive response.

"I cannot pick one," he said. "Everybody was special. Maybe not special good, but special."