Sauber Motorsport announce Kick.com’s chassis naming rights for 2024 after Alfa Romeo’s F1 exit
Sauber Motorsport has announced its major partner, Kick.com, has secured the naming rights for the chassis of the team’s 2024 Formula 1 season contender.
The car will now be proudly known as the KICK Sauber C44, marking a significant collaboration between Sauber Motorsport and Kick.com, the community-driven streaming platform.
The move comes on the back of the end of Sauber’s partnership with Alfa Romeo, which pulled out of Formula 1 at the conclusion of the 2023.
Sauber had been known as Alfa Romeo Racing since 2018. The Swiss outfit will officially be known as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber for the 2024 season, continuing with a Ferrari engine, and Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas as its drivers.
Kick.com’s distinctive branding has already made its mark on the F1 team’s C43 during select races this year, following the initial announcement of their major partnership at the beginning of the 2023 F1 season.
The revised KICK livery was debuted at the Belgian Grand Prix in July.
🚨 | Streaming giant, https://t.co/9XRC66kq0n, secure Sauber Motorsport chassis naming rights for 2024 and 2025
which will be known as the KICK Sauber C44.#F1 pic.twitter.com/T2CNDE2ffW
— Desi Racing Co. (@DesiRacingco) December 15, 2023
“Sauber has always been about innovation, breaking the mould and defying convention,” team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi said.
“The partnership with Kick.com is the latest and boldest display of the philosophy that drives us. Kick.com is redefining the way live streaming is done and they will adopt the same disruptive approach in the world of Formula One.
“With Kick.com, our goal is to make the next step in finding new and innovative ways to get closer to our fans.”
Launched in October 2022 with a global audience in mind, KICK operates on a ‘creator-first’ model, featuring what it describes as the industry’s most rewarding subscription revenue system with content creators on Kick.com retain 95 percent of their earnings.
Since its inception, Kick.com has attracted 22 million registered users, with thousands joining the platform daily.
“Kick.com has seen tremendous growth since its inception and is continuing to make waves in the streaming industry,” Kick.com co-founder Bijan Tehrani stated.
“KICK’s content is fast-paced and engaging, like what we witness every Grand Prix weekend. Just like this partnership, KICK was essentially destined for the racetrack. We are thrilled to take our collaboration to an unparalleled magnitude, backed by our knowledge of the motorsport culture, and our passion for cutting-edge technology.
“Exceptionally, this universally popular sport, aligns perfectly with our product and what we are building at Kick.com.”
Akhil Sarin, Chief Marketing Officer at Kick.com, added, “We are thrilled to reveal the disruptive collaboration between two innovative brands. With the elevation of KICK’s association with the team from Major Partner to Chassis Naming Rights Partner, this partnership is set to redefine the boundaries of fan engagement, delivering an unprecedented experience for motorsport enthusiasts worldwide. Get ready to embark on an exhilarating journey with Kick.com, where passion meets performance in the fast lane of digital entertainment.”
Sauber announced last year that it was transitioning to compete as the Audi factory team from 2026, with Audi revealing the acquisition of a minority stake in the Sauber Group in January 2023.
Image credit: Sauber Group
