We all love David v Goliath stories. The wily underdog, scrapping with the big boys and making it all the way to the top.
‘Sauter Engineering + Design’ are aiming for just that. Swiss based, the Formula 4 side are competing in ADAC F4, the largely German based series for the second year in a row.
📸 Sporting the familiar racing red, Sauter run a visually appealing livery on their F4 car.
17 year old Michael Sauter is the sole driver for the team, and has been since the teams debut in 2021. The Swiss driver finished the year 15th overall in his rookie year, taking second in ADAC’s Rookie Championship behind Nikita Bedrin and leading the Sauter team to fifth in the season standings. In 2022, Sauter is currently 12th, showing improvement at the half way stage of the season.
📸 17 year old Michael is the team’s only driver.
I spoke to Michael about the anomaly that Sauter Engineering + Design is, and took the opportunity to ask him these questions, have a read of what he had to say!
1. First of all; tell us a little about the foundation of your team? My father Stephan is the team boss, my grandfather Roland is a mechanic, my mother Miyuki does the administration, my sister Karin gives all the rest of supports.
2. How many people does your team consist of, including yourself? 5.
3. What are the biggest obstacles you face on a race weekend? That we don’t have many spare parts in case of accident.
📸 Michael takes to the wet track.
4. What are your biggest obstacles between race weekends? That there’s not enough time for test days due to school and work, as a family team.
5. I read an article elsewhere about other teams helping the team on race weekends, does this happen at every race or just some? It was a special situation, as I crashed the car at the qualifying. Because the car was so damaged, so we would have gone home, but with the help of the other teams we were able to race on the other day.
6. What goals does the team hope to accomplish? To gain points on a regular basis.
📸 On the grid.
7. What goals do you personally hope to accomplish? To become a professional racing driver.
8. How far do you think your team and you can go with limited staff around you? We hope to reach the top five by the end of the season.
9. You’re currently the only driver on the team, is a long term plan to get a teammate or is running solo the best option for the time being? No, because if we do it like that, I could not race in F4.
📸 The obligatory ‘driver holding crash helmet as they lean on a car’ picture.
10. Who do you personally look up to? I like to take some influence from other excellent driver, but I also want to do my own thing.
11. Do include yourself as one of the key players in setting the car up or do you consider yourself to just be driving the car? I talk to my father and we discuss with each other after the sessions.
12. Who’s been your toughest opponent to now? I’ve raced against some really good opponents, but I can’t pick one specially.
13. Is there anything you’d like to let people know that I haven’t asked you already? I’m proud to race in F4 and I’m grateful to the people who made it possible.
Really a great story, and I really enjoy the fact they’ve accomplished so much as a team and as a family, they’ve gained a fan and are sure to gain more!
A huge thank you to Michael and the whole Sauter team for taking the time and sharing this interesting information, I hope to catch up with them again soon!
📸 Header image: Sauter’s No.21 car on the grid.
📸 Image credit(s): Sautercar, ADAC Motorsport, Michael Sauter.
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