Monisha Kaltenborn has officially left Sauber due to the Swiss team's struggles in recent years. Kaltenborn became the Cheif Executive Officer of Sauber in 2010 when owner Peter Sauber bought back the team from BMW, who ran somewhat successfully from 2006 to 2009.
2012 saw Kaltenborn appointed as team principal. Last season, Peter Sauber sold his share in the team to Longbow Finance, and it is believed that they are looking to bring their own recruits in to run the team. There will be no leader within the squad heading to Baku this weekend.
Since her appointment in 2012, Sauber has struggled for the most part. 2012 and 2013 saw them score a respectable number of points, including four podiums in 2012. However, since the introduction of the V6 Hybrid era in 2014, the team has collected just 42 points.
In 2014, they scored no points, while 2015 saw a much better year for the team, ending the season with 36 points. They grabbed 2 points in the penultimate round of last year, jumping Manor for last place. After Manor dropped away from the field at the start of the year, it was expected that Sauber would be the back runners for the year.
However, it hasn't started off so badly, as Pascal Wehrlein snatched 4 points at Barcelona and the team currently sits ninth in the standings, ahead of McLaren who are yet to finish inside the top ten.
Fergal Walsh
Replies (7)
Login to replyf1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
Can't really say its a surprise. Sauber is a mess, they need new guidance
talktohenry
Posts: 362
Hopefully they can hang in until the prize money gets evenly distributed.....
boudy
Posts: 1,168
From the outside it looked like Monisha wasn't doing such a good job. Can't say I was that impressed with the way she dealt with driver contracts. Sauber seems to has lost it's way; it needed a change of leadership.
Good luck to them.
mclarenfan1968
Posts: 1,027
Good riddance, there is hope yet for the team, the vampire has detached its fangs. A huge pity though this parasite isn't put behind bars yet for swindling money worth in the millions.
talktohenry
Posts: 362
MC LARENFAN1968 WOULD LOVE TO HEAR MORE ABOUT - ''swindling money worth in the millions''
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
He's talking about how she dealt with the driver contracts a couple of years ago. It wasn't swindling, but it was absolutely unethical and she should have been fired back then. This firing in the middle of the season seems odd, and late.
Sauber in many ways is an amazing team, they just been so poorly managed. Both from the commercial and technical side. Now, the fact they are linked to Honda sort of dooms them for a while. Hope they can get out of it.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Thing is, thats not really the case. The Honda deal will only really benefit them. They already expected themselves to be at the bottom next year, no matter how much power they would have. A Honda deal is cheaper and provide more sponsor chances for them as it stands today, and might even net them some Honda cash for a Japanese driver (e.g Naoki Yamamoto, though he is too old as it stands today).