Sauber announces change of ownership
Good to hear. Hopefully they can get themselves out of the embarrassing position they've found themselves in the last few years.
Another team that needs a change of team principal. Good to hear and hopefully they get back to where they belong in the mid-field.
Humm, these financial institutions taking over ailing teams only hope to cash in later; they are not in it for the long haul.
Here's another article on it: Sauber taken over by Switzerland-based finance group - BBC Sport All the best, Andrew.
Nothing will change so long as Monisha Kaltenborn remains. She is to team bosses as Maldonado is to drivers.
I really don't know, I am just judging from her comportment on TV. She always appears ill at ease and unsure of herself.
There have been other former #2's like her that have made terrible team principals. Whitmarsh and Domenicali are spectacular examples.
Monisha was #2 for 5 years then TP now for 4 years. Whitmarsh was #2 for a decade+ then was TP for 4 or 5 years. Domenicali was #2 for 5 years then was TP for 5 years.
Sauber has been living on borrowed time for a few years now. Relaunching it after the BMW buy-back episode didn't really work. The team has been struggling financially for years and only can "afford" pay drivers. I don't think the relation with Ferrari brings the support it used too, when Raikkonen or Massa were onboard. Kaltenborn has raised a few issues regarding the distribution of FOM monies to small teams, and made enemies there. Ferrari is happy with HAAS and don't need 2 junior teams. Mercedes was Sauber's first backer during its endurance years, but no help will come from there. I cannot see Renault or Honda interested in supplying an ailing team.
The rub is that a well managed team can be self-sustaining. Despite the owners being pretty much broke, Force India is self-sustaining with sponsorship and prize money, and manage to get on the podium now and then. Remember where they were as Spyker before Mallya bought the team? Performance wise even Manor is probably better of. And the great garagistas like McLaren and Williams have managed to slowly leverage their engineering expertise over the years to become profitable companies.
Aha interesting. Longmore is owned by Swedish giant Tetra Pak,who are the personal backers of Ericcson... Now can understand why Marcus wasn't severely punished/fired after the debacle with his team mate! The family behind Tetra Pac are one of the very richest in the world. So Marcus should have a pretty safe seat for now. Small world innit?
they had some of their most succesful years after they bought themselves back from BMW. It only went downhill after Monisha got given the reigns.
Yes, maybe, but it was mostly because BMW re-sold a company they had heavily invested in back to Peter Sauber for a song. So he was safely in business for a couple of years after that, but eventually, the team has to survive on its own. Monisha Kaltenborn invested in Sauber, and was promoted to CEO by Peter Sauber himself, as he wanted to take a back seat. I don't think she is the only cause of the team decline.
Sauber gave Kalterborn a piece of the company, she didn't invest anything in it as far as I know. 2012 was one of their most successful years ever, with Peter still there...he then left halfway through the season and it's been downhill ever since. Surely not down to Kaltenborn on her own, but since she runs the damn place she sure shares part of the blame!
