Stake F1 Team To Change Its Name For Australian Grand Prix

Tuesday, 19 March 2024 at 13:51

Updated at Wednesday, 20 March 2024 at 07:10

The Australian Grand Prix will be the first race of the 2024 season at which Stake F1 will have to change its name due to legal reasons.

Shortly after Stake took over Sauber's naming rights, it became clear that the new name would cause trouble for the team at multiple Grand Prix weekends.

Why? Stake.com is an online crypto casino, and gambling advertising is prohibited in a few countries that are part of the F1 calendar, like Australia, for example.

Having the name on the F1 cars and drivers' uniforms would be considered a breach of the local laws in Australia, so the Stake F1 team will be officially called Kick Sauber this weekend.

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Besides Australia, there are more Grand Prix weekends on the calendar during which the Hinwil-based team will have to switch their name. These include the Spanish Grand Prix, the Belgian Grand Prix, and the Qatar Grand Prix.

Speaking to the media ahead of the 2024 season, Sauber's representative, Alessandro Alunni Bravi, clarified that his team will change names during multiple race weekends to ensure compliance with all applicable local laws.

"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."

In the meantime, there has been some confusion amongst the F1 community as to how the team should be casually referred to. To avoid having to look into the calendar before calling the team either "Stake" or "Kick Sauber," the general agreement was reached to call the team by its original name—"Sauber."