Beat Zehnder recalls driver dispute that caused Red Bull to leave Sauber

Michelle Foster
Enrique Bernoldi of the Arrows racing team checks the steering mechanism for his racer in the pit lane garage at the Interlagos race track. Brazil March 002

Enrique Bernoldi of the Arrows racing team checks the steering mechanism for his racer in the pit lane garage at the Interlagos race track, Red Bull logo on his shoulder. Brazil March 002

Sauber could have become Red Bull Racing were it not for a driver dispute regarding Enrique Bernoldi, says Alfa Romeo team manager Beat Zehnder.

Sauber were backed by Red Bull from 1995 to 2001, the energy drink company the team’s title sponsor but that relationship ended abruptly when the Hinwil-based team refused to put Bernoldi in the car.

Backed by Red Bull, the company wanted their driver to race for Sauber but Zehnder wasn’t impressed with the Brazilian’s performances in Formula 3000.

An unhappy Red Bull withdrew their support.

“Red Bull pushed for Enrique, who had driven in Formula 3000 in 2000,” Zehnder recalled to the Beyond the Grid podcast. “Peter Sauber asked me to follow him throughout the season. So I sat at the command post for every Formula 3000 race.”

Sauber instead fielded Kimi Raikkonen as Nick Heidfeld’s team-mate, the team also making the call to drop Bernoldi as their test driver.

“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 said of the driver who would go onto join Arrows.

In fact he was perplexed by Sauber team boss Peter Sauber had even giving the driver a test driver role for two seasons.

“We still can’t explain why he did that,” Zehnder mused. “And then we went for Kimi instead of Enrique, and I think that’s when the idea of becoming Red Bull Racing was buried.”

Asked whether Sauber, instead of Jaguar, could have been the starting team for Red Bull Racing, he replied: “I think so, yes.”

Red Bull team members celebrate Max Verstappen's World Championship success. Abu Dhabi December 2021.

Bernoldi spent two seasons with Arrows and failed to score a single point at a time when only the top-six scored.

While Sauber went onto link up with BMW, racing as BMW Sauber for five seasons, Red Bull bought the Jaguar team at the end of 2004.

The team went onto win four Drivers’ Championship titles from 2010 to 2013, also taking the Constructors’ crown, before adding a fifth Drivers’ title last season with Max Verstappen.

As Red Bull Racing they have taken 84 wins, Sauber – now Alfa Romeo – have just one thanks to Robert Kubica’s 2008 Canadian GP victory.