Sauber has been in financial trouble of late, but the team’s principal Monisha Kaltenborn is relieved to have found a new partner.
“You need in today’s world a strong partner, and particularly in these times someone who believes in the team and sees the potential,” Kaltenborn told Autosport. “I’m relieved about it all because this is a good team, with good skills and good people. Certain things have just hit us really badly, but this team deserves it.”
Despite its often lackluster performance, Sauber has a long history of attracting big companies into F1. Both Red Bull and Petronas served for many years as the team’s title sponsors, long before moving on to run their own team and partner with Mercedes, respectively. It lured BMW away from Williams in 2006, but has struggled to find new backers since the Bavarian automaker withdrew from the series altogether in 2009.
Most recently, the team has reportedly struggled to pay its staff, and had to miss key test sessions.
Though we don’t know at this point the identity of the investor, we wouldn’t be surprised to see a company on the same level as Red Bull, Petronas or BMW partner with the promising Swiss team.
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