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Sauber aim to be 'best of the rest' in 2019

Published on 16 Aug 2018 12:20
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By: Fergal Walsh

Sauber's chairman Pascal Picci says that the team is aiming at becoming Formula 1's fourth best team next year. The Swiss squad is on a path of resurgence as it makes its way back towards the mid-field pack. For the last couple of years, the Hinwil outfit has been stuck at the bottom of the grid.

However, this year has seen it challenge for points on a number of occasions. It currently sits in ninth place in the constructor's standings, but Picci believes that his team can aim for much higher next year.

"It is our ambition next year to be the fourth team," he said. "This is our ambition. I know I exaggerate, Fred [Vasseur, Sauber team principal] is telling me that I am! But if you don’t have dreams, then you don’t succeed very often."

Sauber has bagged 18 points in the opening 12 races of the season, and have regularly advanced onto the second and sometimes third stage of qualifying. However, it remains a long way off the likes of Renault and Haas, who are fighting for fourth place this season.

But Picci says that the team is in a good place, pointing out that it couldn't develop its 2017 car due to financial difficulties: “People keep forgetting that last year we couldn’t develop anything at all, because time was very short,” he said.

"Was it a good decision to have the old engine last season? I am very clear today with my experience, it was a terrible mistake we did," he continued. "Of course, people made the wrong opinion with what they were seeing last year. It is a big difference.

“This is the first car that we were able to produce. The concept was fantastic. All of a sudden we have a better performing engine. Haas is doing a much better job than us in terms of results, but we keep pushing to be there. You will be seeing that there will be improvements more and more frequently, regularly."

Fergal Walsh

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527

That'd be quite the jump. A good goal, though not sure how likely this is. They'll be going up against Force India, Haas and Renault, three very good teams, and Im not sure if Williams will be just as bad next year. And then we have McLaren and Toro Rosso too, two teams I expect will make a decen... [Read more]

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Aug 16 2018 - 12:50

F1 News Renault Sauber

Replies (6)

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
That'd be quite the jump. A good goal, though not sure how likely this is. They'll be going up against Force India, Haas and Renault, three very good teams, and Im not sure if Williams will be just as bad next year. And then we have McLaren and Toro Rosso too, two teams I expect will make a decent leap next year. Uh oh, things are sure hard to predict nowadays, arent they? :D
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- Aug 16 2018 - 12:50
- Ram Samartha
  
  Posts: 1,172
  Maybe he thinks that there is a possibility that Red Bull might go down in the rankings next year.
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  Aug 16 2018 - 17:36
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  Enough so that Sauber can take them on? Nah, even in a worst case scenario I dont see that happening.
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  Aug 16 2018 - 19:56
Bhurt

Posts: 320
Picci to McLaren seems like a logical development.
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- Aug 16 2018 - 17:13
mcbhargav

Posts: 1,332
If Haas can do, Sauber can do it. But, they need more than Ericsson to do it.
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- Aug 16 2018 - 20:30
dr002

Posts: 141
I agree things definitely are hard to predict, but with Ferrari chief designer Simone Resta moving to Sauber as its new technical director in May of this year without any gardening leave, I suspect that Ferrari has plans for Sauber...... likewise I can't imagine the Fiat Group leaving it's Alfa Romeo brand languishing at the bottom of the grid.

This is why if I were Ricciardo I'd have tried to contract with Ferrari for a drive at Sauber, so that when the car made its way up the grid and Vettel's inconsistency continued to cost Ferrari points he would have been in the box seat to transition across and take over from Vettel as the team's senior driver........
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- Aug 19 2018 - 04:35