Stake Sauber defends new name after Alfa Romeo rebrand

After Alfa Romeo elected not to continue its title-sponsorship of Sauber, it was announced on January 1st that the team would be known as Stake F1 Team for the next two seasons before Audi's '26 arrival.

Further complicating matters is the fact that the chassis name is Kick Sauber in another naming rights deal, but the team cannot compete as 'Stake F1 Team' in four races throughout the year owing to gambling advertising restrictions.

For these events, the Kick Sauber name will be used but Alunni Bravi feels that the team needed to be bold for the two seasons pre-Audi and pointed to the impressions the name reveal and the launch of the striking C44 has brought.

Stake's new name

"First of all, let's consider that one of the biggest music artists in the world, Drake, announced our new team identity," Alunni Bravi said when asked by RacingNews365 about the criticism around the 'Stake' name.

"We had 22 million views of the team announcement in two days, and that is a target we've never achieved with a single post on our social media, and also shows the potential on social media if you have a vision, proper communication and that you can really reach new targets.

"Of course, there was going to be criticism because there are people who were close to Sauber and expect something different, but we really want to have a new team identity.

"I think that people will see how we will communicate, how we will get closer to them and all the activities we will do to engage with the fans, I think they will forget all of this and see how exciting the new chapter is.

"The criticism will always be there when you try something new.

"When you try a new language when you have a team name that is different from other team names, it is always easy to be critical.

"But when we put what we were doing into consideration, we are doing it to show the benefit of the choice."