Sauber scraped through 2016 with the last gasp points finish at the penultimate round of the season in Brazil thanks to a brilliant effort from Felipe Nasr.
Their prize money consequentially rose significantly and it secured their future in Formula 1, at least for 2017. Survival has always been their main aim since they ended their partnership with BMW. They were able to successfully maintain a solid midfield position in their first four years as an independent again, including four podiums in 2012.
But they were only able to lean on the resources left by BMW for so long, once the hybrid era came along in 2014, they quickly slipped back and suffered their first ever pointless season. 2015 proved to be a false dawn for the Swiss team, despite a fifth place finish from their new driver and financial backer Nasr in the very first race of the season, they struggled in the development race and ended the year in eighth place.
They began 2016 in dire shape and were beaten by rivals Manor more often than not in the first half of the season. However, the team was saved from near extinction by Longbow Finance, who bought both Peter Sauber and Monisha Kaltenborn’s shares in the company. They had previously been unable to pay staff.
Following their investment, Sauber was finally able to bring upgrades to the car, and Nasr’s ninth place in the Brazil, although a result of a crazy race with high attrition, was hardly undeserved. They came close to points multiple times before, partially aided by the signing of the highly talented Ruth Buscombe as a strategist.
The recruitment drive for 2017 continued with Nicolas Hennel de Beaupreau (ex-Lotus) appointed as head of aerodynamics and Xevi Pujolar (Max Verstappen’s ex-engineer) earning the title of head of track engineering. Arguably, the most important were the acquisition of Audi’s technical director Jorg Zander, following the German manufacturers’ withdrawal from the WEC.
Sauber arguably has their best driver lineup of the hybrid era and have made some crucial staff appointments, but can they avoid finishing at the foot of the championship? Well with a 2016 power unit, it’s going to be extremely tough and they’re probably going to have to rely on other teams having issues.
However, Toro Rosso proved last season that you can be regular points scorers even with a year old engine, though the deficit is now greater than ever due to the token system been scrapped. Toro Rosso relied heavily on Sainz to deliver consistent points finishes while Sauber has two drivers capable of doing this.
In particular, Wehrlein will be key to the Swiss outfit’s success in 2017, he’s incredibly quick in qualifying, with six Q2 appearances to his name in 2016. He’s incredibly fast off the line on Sundays, which should help to reduce the inevitable pace deficit the Sauber drivers will suffer.
Ericsson, on the other hand, is a driver who excelled in certain races last season, despite struggling for pace on a Saturday, and he seems to be a master of the alternative strategy. Buscombe and co will have to exploit this in order to avoid a second pointless season in four years.
In fact, their best opportunity will come at the start of the season, when other teams are struggling for reliability, Sauber has a reliable power unit and need to capitalise early and score points in a similar fashion to Haas in 2016. In testing, they completed 788 laps, which was only beaten by Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams. Their reliability is certainly not a worry.
Their biggest rivals in 2016 were Manor and Renault, one of which have gone extinct and the other have clearly made improvements, putting them beyond the reach of Sauber. This would likely promote Haas as Sauber’s new biggest rivals. McLaren may be having issues but it would take a brave man to predict that Sauber would finish ahead of the Woking outfit.
Haas’ fastest time from testing was over a second quicker than Sauber. They’re hardly famous for sandbagging during testing, so pace wise things are looking fairly bleak, and back row of the grid lockouts may be a familial theme for Ericsson and Wehrlein.
Although their drivers and the team will do their best to score points, it’s an unlikely prospect than Sauber will score points in 2017, barring any wild races of high attrition. Though they may be able to pick up the odd point, it’s hard to believe Sauber can escape finishing tenth in the championship.
However that wouldn’t be a failure for Sauber, expectations are low for 2017 on track, but it’s the negotiations off the track which will prove to be Sauber’s real success or failure in 2017. Their current contract with Ferrari expires at the end of the season, and it’s unlikely to be renewed, paving a possible partnership with Honda.
Or will it? While a Honda Sauber deal has been mooted for a long time, surely a switch to Mercedes power, although expensive, would be the better option, especially considering Honda’s current state. Furthermore, they could enjoy the benefits of running quick Mercedes juniors such as Wehrlein rather than slower drivers with financial backing who will leak the team points.
Ultimately, while Sauber may be destined to fail on the track in 2017, the real victory is in the future of the team, which looks brighter than it has for a very long time.
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