How the dispute over a driver caused Red Bull to leave the Sauber team: Possibly Max Verstappen could otherwise celebrate success today in Hinwil
Red Bull is one of the most successful Formula 1 teams in the history of the premier class. The team from Milton Keynes, which has only been racing as an independent team in the premier class since 2005, can lay claim to five drivers’ and four constructors’ world championships and 84 race wins.
At the time, they took over the unsuccessful Jaguar team, but there was also a chance that Sauber would be Red Bull today, believes Alfa Romeo team manager Beat Zehnder. “I think so, yes,” says the Swiss, who has witnessed every single Formula One race of the Swiss racing team.
Because Sauber and Red Bull were linked by a close partnership between 1995 and 2001. The Austrian drinks manufacturer was the team’s main and title sponsor, but parted company with it because Sauber refused to put Red Bull sponsor driver Enrique Bernoldi in the car for 2001.
“Red Bull pushed for Enrique, who had driven in Formula 3000 in 2000,” Zehnder recalled in the podcast ‘Beyond the Grid’. “Peter Sauber asked me to follow him throughout the season. So I sat at the command post for every Formula 3000 race. “
However, the Brazilian did not score any real successes. Although he was already in his second season in the top junior class, Bernoldi did not finish higher than 16th overall. Only three times in ten races did he finish in the points at that time, and Zehnder was not sure about Bernoldi’s motivation either.
“Why does he want to be a Formula One driver? Is it because he wanted free entry to the biggest clubs? That was my feeling,” Zehnder says.
At the same time, team founder Peter Sauber gave a testing chance to a then completely unknown driver named Kimi Räikkönen. “We still can’t explain why he did that,” Zehnder says today. “And then we went for Kimi instead of Enrique, and I think that’s when the idea of becoming Red Bull Racing was buried. “
Red Bull placed Bernoldi with Arrows in 2001, but after a year and a half and 28 Formula One starts, the Brazilian’s career came to an end with no points. Sauber, on the other hand, hit the jackpot with Räikkönen, even though the Finn left for McLaren just one year later.
But the saga has probably prevented Red Bull from celebrating its successes in Hinwil today. Instead, the trophies are in Milton Keynes, UK.
