Former team owner Peter Sauber will have a team back in F1 in 2010, provided that they are allocated grid places, after he bought the outgoing BMW team.

Sauber were previously an F1 team from 1993-2005 before they were purchased by BMW. They competed 206 times and scored 6 podiums, despite never taking a race win.

Sauber has bought the team after the deal that BMW seemed to have in place with Qadbak Investments Ltd fell through. This deal fell through as Qadbak did not have the necessary funds and that there was no bank guarantee. Bahrain Capital International, who were supposed to give such a guarantee, turned out to be a shell company of controversial businessman and senior Qadbak representative Russell King, with no assets.

Dr. Klaus Draeger, a member of the Board of Management of BMW AG said;

“We are very happy with this solution. This fulfils the most important requirement for a successful future for the team. Our relationship with Peter Sauber has always been excellent and marked by absolute respect. We would like to express our thanks to Peter Sauber and the whole team for the excellent cooperation during the recent four years.

“I am very relieved that we have found this solution. It means we can keep the Hinwil location and the majority of workplaces. I am convinced that the new team has a very good future in Formula 1, whose current transformation with new framework conditions will benefit the private teams.

“Our staff here are highly competent and motivated, and I look forward to taking on this new challenge together with them. I would like to thank BMW for four shared years, that have in the main been very successful.”