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Frederic Vasseur only took over as Sauber's Team Principal on the Monday after the British Grand Prix, but since then the Frenchman has quickly clarified the team's 2018 engine situation, pulling it out of a previous agreement with Honda to re-sign with current partner Ferrari.
The Honda deal was announced by previous Team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn in May, but her subsequent departure from Sauber threw it swiftly into doubt, as owners Longbow Finance were believed to be sceptical about the results that a Honda engine could bring the squad. They ultimately decided to renegotiate with Ferrari and terminate the Honda deal, and Sauber will now receive up-to-date power units next season, as opposed to the year-old versions it is racing with in 2017.
Explaining the reasoning behind the Ferrari renewal, Vasseur said: "Sauber and Honda signed a memorandum of understanding a couple of weeks ago, but things move forward quite fast in our world and I think that the situation was a bit unclear also regarding the collaboration between McLaren and Honda, and on our side the engine supplier had to find a solution for the gearbox.
"We had a deal with McLaren and the situation was a bit more complicated. On the other end, the collaboration with Ferrari is based on a long-term relationship and we had the opportunity to discuss with Ferrari to get the new-spec engine, and I think it was a good choice and we found a mutual agreement with Honda to stop the collaboration."
Mason Hawker
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
5 members have this team as their favourite
Replies (6)
Login to replyf1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
Kaltenborn drove that team into the ground. change was needed, hopefully they can start to move forward soon
F1racefan97
Posts: 113
Hopefully sauber become Ferrari b team and we get to see giovinazzi and leclerc next year!
Orchide
Posts: 82
Not gonna happen. Why would Longbow put all that money in a team and then evolve into a Ferrari B team.
ChrisDanger
Posts: 6
Don't know why I can't reply to Orchide below, but anyway. James Allen quotes Marchionne:
“It’s a very positive thing for us; it’s a chance to have a junior team. We have a pair of exceptional drivers we need to run,” he told Italian media. Marchionne is referring to Charles Leclerc (below) the runaway leader of the FIA F2 Championship and Antonio Giovinazzi, Ferrari’s official reserve driver.
www.jamesallenonf1(...)ari-f1-junior-team/
Barron
Posts: 625
Yep, not even a 'B' team but a Junior Team! Goodbye Sauber, it was great having you on the grid as a true independent. Peter must be gutted.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
I think he's been gutted to watch how Mounisha has managed the team to last place. Now they have a chance to be competitive again, if they would just get rid of Ericson for someone up to the Hulk's level.