Why Stake F1 team name will change during the season

Stake Sauber Team Representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi has revealed the team will change its name to Kick Sauber at races where gambling advertisement is prohibited.

The Hinwill-based outfit's identity as Stake F1 poses an issue when visiting a number of circuits on the F1 calendar, proven by the switch in car sponsorship between Stake and Kick last term.

But with Stake F1 given as the name and Kick provided as the chassis title, questions had been raised over how the team would bypass the various gambling advertisement laws across the schedule.

Clearing the issue up when speaking to media including RacingNews365 at the team's official season launch in London, Alunni Bravi explained: "Last year, we alternated to different team names according to the different countries where we go racing.

"We will be fully compliant with all the local applicable laws and where Stake is permitted. So where gambling advertising is prohibited, we will use a different name.

"As last year, we have Kick as one of our most important partners - the car launch was streamed live on Kick.com, our chassis name is Kick Sauber, so where we will not be racing as Stake, we will use the second team name."

'This is important for us'

Much like during it's Alfa Romeo title sponsorship in recent history, the Sauber name is not included in the brand identity and instead is only part of the chassis title, alongside Kick.

Asked why the historic name wasn't a part of the identity, Alunni Bravi replied: "The team's name in Formula 1 depends on many different elements, including commercial partnerships.

"We have announced the chassis name as Kick Sauber and we have a new team identity, Stake F1.

"So our new team identity is not that we forget Sauber. We are the Sauber group, we are a solid group of people working together, but we present ourselves in the F1 community with a new team identity for the next two seasons.

"This is important for us, it is not just a commercial partnership but it is the way we want to approach the F1 world, where creativity, innovation and ingenuity are part of our marketing strategy.

"This is also important to provide the team with all the means and resources to approach the next two seasons that will see ourselves in a strong transformation process.

"It's not that we forget Sauber - we are the Sauber Group - but our team in F1 is Stake F1."