Sauber having money troubles?

That is what I was thinking as well, but to see them run year after year without any big sponsorship on their cars was very worrying. I always thought better to get a bit of money and have something on the cars, instead of running them without any sponsorship whatsoever. I am not speaking about TELCEL which does not have a huge presence on the car.

 

I wouldn't bet that Macca has the wherewithal to run three cars. They're not sitting on a huge pile of money and they don't have sponsors knocking down the doors.

 

Would be nice if Ferrari bought them and kept them as a junior team, like RBR has TR... But it wouldn't do Peter Sauber any justice. He's one of the few true team owners left, like Frank Williams. Sad to see them both in trouble.

 

+1 [Something we agree on! ]

Peter seems ominously quiet on the matter at present too. Dunno if his pockets got deeper and his arms shorter but I wonder if he'll bail 'em out again?

OK, we know times are tough, but they were *so* close surely another huge ego/wallet can be found somewhere?

Great little team, would be a shame to lose 'em IMO.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Their Big Sponsor used to be Redbull, which is interesting because they terminated their contract over the hiring of Kimi, as they thought he was too young and inexperienced at the time. Peter Sauber told Dieter, as long as he is the owner of the team, he makes the driver decisions.

Does anyone remember who was sponsoring them under BMW?

 

No worries DJ, it is quite comical, as now Kimi may go to RB. But at the time, Kimi came out of Formula Renault, straight into Sauber and was recruited the following season by McLaren to replace a retiring Mika.

 

On a side note: Credit Suisse's CEO was a big F1 fan, that's how Sauber got that deal. Some years later that same CEO became the head of UBS, the other big Swiss Bank. But they wanted a bigger global exposure and sponsored F1 instead.

Now that CEO is no longer there so I expect the F1 sponsoring to not get renewed.

 

All these money troubles now, Senna's small compensation in another thread and yet 1 guy seems to be flush thru it all...................

 

Easily 60-70..even without separating the Footwork/Arrows, Leyton House/March, Osella/Fondmetal facades...

 

Whilst it's a nice (and slightly romantic), idea, it's not really feasible!

The amount of money required to keep Sauber going rules Ferrari out instantly because it would be too much of a financial drain for them and would be too much of a distraction to their WDC/WCC campaign.

Added to that, the rules on teams being linked to other teams are very tight these days and that would only add massively to the cost of sorting Sauber out for Ferrari.

Whilst I doubt Ferrari would be happy to see Sauber leave F1, I think the thought that it could help bolster their wish to be able to run three cars each season would also sway them away from offering any help to Sauber.

(It could also be easily argued that as it stands, Caterham and Marussia are pretty much a waste of grid space that could be better served by younger drivers in a third Ferrari/Red Bull/Mercedes/McLaren! - The pair of them are barely racing each other, let alone the rest of the grid!).

 

Are they really that close to shutting down? Seems like this has come out of no where. I can't imagine someone wouldn't take them over even if that were the case, their windtunnel and CFD resources are supposed to be very high quality from BMW's investment.

 

The creditors are working with Swiss Authorities to get to their money. Once that mill is turning it gets ugly fast. The only hope is that Sauber gets the Russian sponsorship deal.

 

Yeah, but it would solve the "what do we do with Phil issue".

 

Based on latest reports it looks even worse:

Allegedly they owe Ferrari 19 millions and have a total debt of 120 millions.
«Bild» und «Die Welt» behaupten: Sauber-Rennstall schuldet Ferrari 19 Millionen Franken ? Formel 1 ? Blick

Sounds unlikely to me that somebody would just jump at that chance to have a spot on the F1 grid. The general expectation is that they will be sold or closed this year.

The price of F1 membership is going down fast.

 

Thanks.
I won't be shocked if other teams aren't as financially healthy as they seem too.

 

Marussia and Caterham come to mind.

Apparently Lotus just recently paid Kimi's salary for this year.


Or to paraphrase F1's new sponsor:
"Was Lacostet die Welt? Geld spielt keine Rolex!"

(What's the price of the world? Money doesn't matter!)

 

Ever try saying that to a waiter at the end of a meal?

 

Pfft... Go for gold and use the line at an IRS audit.

 

Not sure which would be worse a tax man or a Parisian waiter.

 

Rofl

Every time we go to a Euro style restaurant in the States and the service is slow and lousy I tell my wife how truly authentic the place is