Remarkable! Official F1 website cuts off Bottas and Zhou
F1 News
- Ludo van Denderen
It looks remarkable, to say the least: on the driver profiles on F1.com, only the faces of Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou are currently cut out. Their overalls are completely covered. Also notable: the Formula 1 website reports that Bottas and Zhou are racing for Kick Sauber and thus does not call the team Stake F1.
As is well known, the current Stake F1 operated in Formula 1 last season under the Alfa Romeo name. The name change and totally new branding means adjustments are required, including on the F1 website: "The information listed on the F1 website - including the lack of suits - is due to the fact that we haven't launched them yet. Given the radical change in branding and the fact that we no longer have an association with Alfa Romeo, they could not use last year's suits," the team told GPblog when asked.
What happend to Bottas and Zhou? pic.twitter.com/pRngKusjRE
— LudoF1 (@LudoF1) January 22, 2024
Stake F1 or Kick Sauber?
Earlier, the Swiss team indicated that Stake F1 Team will be the name used for the season, but due to local laws, that branding is not allowed everywhere. This is because Stake is an online gambling company, and in several countries, advertising gambling is banned. Perhaps on the Formula 1 website, the choice has been made to put the Kick Sauber logo - the name that will be used if Stake F1 Team is not allowed - on it.
On Monday, 5 February, the Stake F1 Team will present the car for 2024. It was suggested in Swiss media last week that the Stake F1 Team will not hold the presentation of the new cars domestically because, due to the said regulations in Switzerland, the name of a gambling company is not allowed. The latter is denied by the team.
"The launch location is London as we are targeting a worldwide audience and a lot of the media attending will be there - last year, we held it in Switzerland with no problems. As you can imagine, there is no issue and we'll be using this new identity without any worry in 2024 and 2025," the team said. From 2026, Stake F1 will continue as Audi.