For the season the team signed Nick Heidfeld from Williams to be their lead driver, and retained Jacques Villeneuve as the second driver. Polish Robert Kubica was signed as the team's third or test driver. The team continued to use Sauber's facilities, mostly for chassis construction and wind tunnel testing. BMW's headquarters in Munich was responsible for building the new P86 V8 engine.
Former Sauber title sponsor Petronas renewed their contract with the new team, as a simple team sponsor, as did Credit Suisse. BMW Sauber announced a technical partnership with Intel and the Germany company O2, saying that it will lead to technological improvements on BMW road cars. The new livery (paint scheme), unveiled in Valencia on 17 January 2006, was the traditional BMW blue and white with a hint of red.
At the Hungarian Grand Prix, Heidfeld scored the team's first podium. Kubica filled in for Villeneuve. Villeneuve could not drive due to complications following his accident at the German Grand Prix. Kubica finished seventh, but was disqualified for having too light a car. Kubica would drive for the rest of the season, bringing an to Villeneuve's F1 career.
The team's finished the season fifth place in the constructor's championship with 36 points.
For the season Kubica and Heidfeld were again the teams' drivers. Sebastian Vettel would be the third or test driver. Timo Glock was signed as the team's second test driver.
The performance of the BMW Sauber's F1.08 firmly placed them as the best team behind the two championship leading teams of Ferrari and McLaren.
The Canadian Grand Prix brought the teams best finish to date, with Nick Heidfeld finishing in 2nd place, but Robert Kubica had a huge crash that resulted in a sprained ankle and concussion.
Sebastian Vettel took his place in the United States Grand Prix and finishing in 8th place. He became the youngest driver to score a Formula One World Championship point. After the European Grand Prix, Scuderia Toro Rosso announced that Vettel would take the second driver seat from Scott Speed.
On August 21, 2007, BMW confirmed its driver line-up of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica for the season. Their 2008 car, the BMW Sauber F1.08 was officially launched in Munich on January 14, 2008.
In Bahrain, Kubica scored his and the team's first ever pole position, beating Felipe Massa by just under three hundredths of a second. The team went on to finish 3rd and 4th in the race, equaling their highest round of points scored. For the first time, the team was in first place in the constructors' championship.
BMW Sauber's first race victory came in the Canadian Grand Prix. BMS Sauber scored a one-two finish with Robert Kubica's first race win and Nick Heidfeld taking second place. This was the first Formula One victory for a BMW engine since the Williams-BMW won the Brazilian Grand Prix.
After the team's breakthrough win, the team stopped improving the current car. They started work on the new car for because of the new regulations for the next season. This was reflected in the team's performance for the remainder of the 2008 season. Kubica was leading the drivers championship after the Canadian Grand Prix. The lack of development was showed with a drop in performance through the second half of the season. BMW was outpaced by Renault, Toyota and Toro Rosso
In October 2008 the team confirmed that they would stay with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld as their drivers for the Season.
Although BMW Sauber targeted the 2009 season as the year they would challenge for the title, their start to the season was disappointing. Kubica was in 3rd place in the opening round, when he collided with Vettel while battling for 2nd place. Kubica was forced to retire from the race. Heidfeld secured the team's first podium of the year in Malaysia, but after 6 races BMW Sauber had collected only 6 points. They were in 8th place in the Constructors' Championship out of 10 teams.
Several upgrades were scheduled for Turkey, including an improved energy recovery braking system (KERS) and a new air diffuser to improve downforce and traction. While the new diffuser was installed, the KERS would not fit the new car and both drivers raced without the device. BMW had been one of the strongest supports of KERS. After the British Grand Prix, the team announced they would stop development KERS. They set their focus on improving the car's aerodynamics (how well the car moves through the air). This left Ferrari and McLaren as the only remaining users of the KERS system. In the European Grand Prix at Valencia Robert Kubica scored the team's first points since the race in Turkey.
On July 28, the company announced the team's withdrawal from Formula One at the end of 2009. BMW Chairman Dr. Norbert Reithofer described the decision as a strategic one. On 15 September 2009 BMW Sauber announced they had a buyer for the team, Qadbak Investments Limited. Qadbak turned to be a shell company (a company without any real assets or operations), and the deal fell apart.
Lotus Racing was given the 13th and final slot in the Season.
On November 27, 2009 Peter Sauber announced he would purchase the team back from BMW. He would only agree to the purchase if the team receiving a FIA entry for the season.
On December 3, 2009, the FIA confirmed that Sauber had been granted the entry position left by Toyota's departure from Formula one. The new Sauber team would be using Ferrari engines, and the team's chassis for the 2010 season would be designated Sauber C29. Peter Sauber said that he has not applied to change the name of the team, so they remain for now as "BMW Sauber F1 Team" despite using no BMW components.
Kamui Kobayashi was signed as a driver for the 2010 season on the December 17, 2009. Pedro de la Rosa was signed as Sauber's second driver on January 19, 2010. Esteban Gutiérrez has joined the team as an observer for some race weekends. He has been placed on the same training program as the race drivers de la Rosa and Kobayashi.
The team struggled in the early rounds of the season, and did not score any points from the first three races. Peter Sauber admitted at this point that his decision to rescue the team had been emotionally-driven, but insisted that it was a correct decision.
The team ran without a primary sponsor for the first four races of the 2010 season. For the Spanish and European Grand Prix, they carried the logo of the Spanish arm of the Burger King fast food franchise.
In Turkey, Kobayashi qualified in the top ten for the race, then finished 10th, collecting the team's first point in 2010.
On 14 September, Sauber announced that Nick Heidfeld had been signed to replace de la Rosa for the rest of the 2010 season. Heidfeld drove for Sauber from to , and to . Heidfeld will race starting with the Singapore Grand Prix.
For the season, Sauber kept driver Kamui Kobayashi, and added rookie driver Sergio Pérez. Kobayashi qualified in 9th place, and Pérez in 13th. Pérez received praise for making his tyres last better than any other driver. He needed only one pit stop, when all other drivers needed at least two. They both finished the race in the points. Pérez finished in 7th place, and Kobayashi in 8th. The two Sauber cars were disqualified after the race. The team had made a mistake with the rear wing, and it was not legal.
Pérez suffered a serious crash in the Monaco race. He had intentions of being in the next race, at Canada, and ran in the Friday practice. However, Pérez fell ill (sick) and was replaced by Pedro de la Rosa.
Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is a city in Douglas County in the state of Kansas in the United States. It is in the northeastern part of the state, near the Kansas City area. It is the county seat of Douglas County. In 2010, 87,643 people lived there; though in 2019, there were an estimated 98,193 people. This makes it the sixth-biggest city in Kansas. The University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University are in Lawrence.