A new eccentric billionaire in F1: Who is the man behind Stake?

After using the name of title sponsor Alfa Romeo for five seasons, it seemed the Sauber name would return to F1, at least until the arrival of Audi. As it turns out, nothing could be further from the truth: Sauber will be called Stake F1 Team for the next two seasons, named after a highly successful online gambling company.

The driving force behind Stake and Kick (Sauber's second title sponsor) is Edward Craven, a 28-year-old Australian multimillionaire who has become rich thanks to cryptocurrencies and Stake. To give an idea: via his account on X, Craven announced how many bets were placed via Stake in 2023. There were 65,812,020,085.

Ed Craven

According to The Australian, the company generates around four hundred million dollars a day. Craven owns two mansions, one costing forty million dollars, the other costing eighty million dollars. So, no one will be surprised that Craven is among the richest Australians.

Craven is absolutely crazy about sports. For instance, Stake is already the shirt sponsor of football clubs Everton and Watford. Moreover, he is a welcome guest at fights in the UFC. In recent seasons, Stake has already been linked to (then) Alfa Romeo. For the next two seasons, Craven will pay a large sum to be the title sponsor of the Stake F1 team [Sauber].

10 years on, still building, and we haven't needed to get in the octagon together pic.twitter.com/YXu629pglN

— Eddie (@StakeEddie) February 15, 2023

Drake and Aguero are in the inner circle

Craven likes to surround himself with famous stars. Canadian rapper Drake, for instance, is not only a friend of Craven's but also an ambassador for Stake and is now committed to Stake F1. Former footballer Sergio Aguero and Canadian rapper Karan Aujla are part of the Stake inner circle. So the always tidy, almost boring Sauber has become pure glamour in one fell swoop. That much is clear after Craven's arrival.