Sauber-Mercedes was formed in 1988 when Mercedes-Benz acquired a stake in Sauber Motorsports, a privateer World Sportscar Championship (WSC) competitor that had used Mercedes-Benz-supplied engines since 1985. This denoted the marque's first official venture into world championship–level motorsport since it withdrew from international competition following the 1955 season more than 30 years earlier.

The Sauber-Mercedes C 9 was a further development of the earlier Sauber C 9, introduced in 1987, which had performed well but was plagued by poor reliability. With factory support, it was refined and finished a close second to the Jaguar XJR-9 in the 1988 WSC. In 1989, this revised version with a more reliable engine dominated the series, winning seven of eight WSC races and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which was not part of the championship that year for political reasons.