Sauber to miss Silverstone test too

2016 British Grand Prix

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Sauber has announced it will not take part in next week’s test at Silverstone.

The two-day test is due to begin in six days’ time but Sauber revealed it will not take part.

“As we introduce the C35 aero package at a later stage, testing in Silverstone is cancelled considering cost effectiveness,” the team announced on Twitter.

Sauber also did not take part in the previous in-season test at the Circuit de Catalunya, again citing the lack of an aerodynamic update for its chassis.

At the last race weekend in Austria Sauber’s team manager Beat Zehnder indicated the team’s financial situation was improving after they had experienced trouble paying their staff’s salaries earlier this year.

“Paying the salaries, the outstanding salaries, is part of a comprehensive solution we were still working on.”

“Obviously there is a change in atmosphere because now everyone believes again that there is a future. The crucial thing so far was not to give up and I think we can be very proud of our team here on the track and at home that kept on pushing in our very limited areas.”

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    17 comments on “Sauber to miss Silverstone test too”

    1. Is there any chance someone will buy them out soon?
      I honestly don’t see sauber surviving if that doesn’t happen…

      1. my thoughts exactly.

      2. BMW to the rescue again?

      3. Why would anyone buy they before they collapse? I’ve no doubt many interested parties are waiting to collect them cheaply once they financially implode.

        1. @philipgb I agree completely. Once the team collapses a new buyer can get the team for pennies on the dollar.

        2. ColdFly F1 (@)
          6th July 2016, 14:59

          No F1 entry (contract void) nor BE money after bankruptcy! Asset value only.
          @philipgb, @velocityboy

          1. @coldfly

            What happened with Manor/Marussia then?

            1. ColdFly F1 (@)
              6th July 2016, 16:00

              @philipgb, special deal with BE.
              (he even tried to renege on that one, and keep the money)

      4. The rumours are that a deal is being done right now (ongoing for the last few months) @yoshif8tures, also mentioned it’s being structured as something of a management buyout (Kaltenborn keeping her % and a new partner taking over Peter Sauber’s).

    2. It’s only been four years since they were scoring points and fighting for podiums with one of the most exciting driver lineups on the grid. It’s hard to believe, and thoroughly depressing, how rapidly it has all fallen apart.

      1. I miss Kamui Kobayashi.

    3. I think it’s a good demonstration of how harsh these constant rule changes are on smaller teams financially. They had a solid car for 2012 with only one more year of the rules left to try and build upon that success before the design criteria was torn up for 2014. A bit of a resurgence again last year only to be told clean sheet for 2017 guys start again.

      How are the smaller teams supposed to stretch their budgets with any hope of competing with the bigger teams if they’re forced back to the drawing board so often? When Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari can invest as much work into a single aero update as the small teams do all season a big rule shake up is no drama to them, but what hope do Sauber and Manor have of fielding a car for a new set of rules next season while still doing anything with this years car?

      An evolution of rules is fine, ’14 to ’15 to ’16 has seen some tweaks which are fine and sure enough Red Bull and Ferrari are closing in on Mercedes. But I’ve no doubt Williams fall from grace this year is with their eye on ’17. Voiding developments each year is killing the teams without bottomless pockets.

    4. When Clare Williams calls for a fairer distribution of funds I listen
      But I think people like Monisha Kaltenborn are holding F1 back
      I do not think cost controls are as necessary now as what they were. It’s stopping teams like McLaren from catching up

      1. But Claire Williams is calling for fairer distribution… Williams is the only F1 team making a small profit, and next year that will be gone aswell.

        Sauber got totaly destroyed by winds of F1 change… Starting with BMW leaving the sport, ending with mega expensive underperforming 2014 Ferrari engine…

        It is hard to run a semi competitive F1 team for anything short of 100M euros…

        Sponsors dont pay that, Bernie wont give that to anyone south of 3rd spot, the. You need some kind of billionair backing.

        1. @jureo Yes Claire Williams is calling for fairer distribution. It’s what I was implying.
          Claire will probably get further through cooperation in trying to level the playing field than Monisha, who wants to tip the apple cart over. She may well dig Sauber into a deeper hole

          1. True that. Obviously situation is a lot different between their teams. But Williams was where Sauber is a few years back. And they bounced up just fine.

            Sauber has to greatly restructure, potentially change leadership, and get to work.

            And if their funding is not good enough, abandon F1 and do something else…

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