Sauber to switch focus onto 2018 imminently
Ten races into a 2017 campaign, that has only seen a five point return for their efforts, Sauber driver Pascal Wehrlein has acknowledged that the team will focus on 2018 after the forthcoming summer break.
The Swiss squad’s run of lacklustre form dates back to 2013, with the team unquestionably hampered by a lack of resources. Last season, former team principal Monisha Kaltenborn organised an eleventh-hour deal to save Sauber, selling the outfit to Longbow Finance.
A subsequent management overhaul has seen Kaltenborn leave the team, with ex-Renault boss Fred Vasseur being brought in as her replacement prior to last weekend’s British Grand Prix.
Wehrlein was asked for his opinion on the management changes by the official F1 website: “I don’t know how fast Fred can change things or how he can change them, but we now have one race left before the summer shut-down.
“In the second half of the season the team will focus on next year, so I don’t think you will see his touch too much this year. So let’s see what we can still do with the tools that we have right now.”
Sauber currently sits ninth in the constructors’ standings, but only a slender three points clear of the similarly ailing McLaren Honda.
With focus switching to 2018 and resources notoriously thin, it remains to be seen whether Sauber can avoid falling into the tenth spot during the second half of the campaign.
As recently as 2012, Sauber finished the year sixth in the standings, with a healthy 126 points and four podiums amassed en route.
“The team wants to get back to where they were around five years ago,” Wehrlein noted. “You can physically feel this desire in the team.”
Sauber is set to bring a sizeable aerodynamic upgrade to the Hungarian Grand Prix, likely to be their final major update of the season.