2014 Comment: Sauber's Identity Crisis

[eytl]

Hi everyone,

Before the Lotterer Legend takes on the Chilton Craze and the Ericsson Era at Spa, and F1 roars back into life, I thought I'd take the opportunity to pen another 2014 season comment.

One of the subplots this season has been the rejectful performance of Sauber, and they only have eight races left to try to overhaul Marussia in the points. What's gone wrong? I have a theory ...

http://www.f1rejects.com/centrale/2014/sauber/index.html

Hope you enjoy the read - even if not as much as the last article!

Cheers,
Enoch

[noiceinmydrink]

Great article as always Enoch, I never really thought of this being one of the problems. I just kinda left it at "car's rubbish and so are the people driving it" without really putting a whole lot of thought into other issues but this makes much more sense.

[Londoner]

I think it says loads about Sauber at the moment when the big news coming out of their camp is that they've likely resigned Sutil for next season, compared to the buzz Caterham (and now Marussia with this Alex Rossi news) have drummed up this week with their driver change.

Fantastic article as always.

[Shizuka]

Nice article Enoch, but may I recommend a quick fix?

Pedro Diniz was at Sauber in 1999 and 2000. In '98, Alesi was partnered by Johnny Herbert.

[dr-baker]

I never considered before that Sauber wasn't a racer's team any more, but your article seemed to make some sense.

[Cynon]

Sauber's problems seem to be a result of a change in management and the changing economic climate in F1. It pains me to say it but signing Simona de Silvestro will be proof that they're clutching at straws to get publicity. It will, ironically, turn Simona, the anti-Danica, into F1's Danica.

Can she handle that kind of pressure?

Probably.

[roblo97]

Great article as always, Enoch. I do think of my second cousin in times like these (he is a designer for the team).

[good_Ralf]

With only eight races remaining this year, it may not be enough time for Sauber to save their season, but working out what the team wants to be could well be an important springboard towards recovery in 2015.

To be honest, I'm not sure if Sauber will make it for 2015 given their monetary situation, although I remember entering the Belgian GP last year there was a likelihood that Sauber would go bust and dissolve before the race and of course it didn't happen, before the team made a significant performance boost that have got them at least one podium for Hulkenberg.
Sauber in the pre-BMW era and in recent year also seemed to have these 2-4 year periods where their results and position in the standings would get lower and lower, and soon enough everyone predicted they would be doomed, only for Sauber to have a remarkable season to blow everyone away (1997, 2001, 2004, 2012), but then repeat that aforementioned trend immediately afterwards.
Most recently, Sauber had a great 2012, a decent but troubled 2013 and an abysmal 2014 so far, similar to say, the 1997-9 period.

[dinizintheoven]

It is at times like this I put my smug face on. The evidence is there in the pre-season podcast, so there's no denying it - I predicted Sauber as Reject Of The Year and so far, they're odds-on.

Go on, Adrian and Guti-squared, keep that streak going!

[Waris]

I never understood why, upon signing Pérez, they didn't go the route of "Telmex Sauber F1 Team" with a sky blue car and lots of Mexican sponsorship. Probably Telmex didn't commit enough of a monetary contribution to be a title sponsor, which is weird considering they're supposed to be one of the richest companies in the world.

[Kuwashima]

After this article, I fully expect a Sauber resurgence...

[dr-baker]

After this article, I fully expect a Sauber resurgence...

A-ha. Was that the real intention of this article, Enoch?

[andrew2209]

I never understood why, upon signing Pérez, they didn't go the route of "Telmex Sauber F1 Team" with a sky blue car and lots of Mexican sponsorship. Probably Telmex didn't commit enough of a monetary contribution to be a title sponsor, which is weird considering they're supposed to be one of the richest companies in the world.

Well at the very least it'd be better than their current "grey but not quite retro Sauber grey" car they have

[Frentzen127]

I never understood why, upon signing Pérez, they didn't go the route of "Telmex Sauber F1 Team" with a sky blue car and lots of Mexican sponsorship. Probably Telmex didn't commit enough of a monetary contribution to be a title sponsor, which is weird considering they're supposed to be one of the richest companies in the world.

Well at the very least it'd be better than their current "grey but not quite retro Sauber grey" car they have

You see, Slim has the reputation of being the cheapest richest man on Earth, so he'd roll only enough dough to get his logos on the car, but nothing more.
Mind you considering Claro's service standards across latin america that's a good thing. Colombia is said to be a country so diverse to be almost disjointed, and a huge gap between the rich and poor. Nothing joins the wealthy and slum dwellers, the coast dwellers or the high-landers, except the quality of the roads of the neighborhood they live in and the universal contempt for Claro's service standards.
Its fortunate indeed that Sauber doesn't have an all blue telmex car or an all candy red Claro car, for then they would be universally despised. As a Sauber fan I woudnl't like that.

[Vassago]

I'm convinced Simona would do a better job than Gutierrez on most F1 tracks...

[CoopsII]

It all went wrong for Sauber when they ditched Larini.

[DanielPT]

It all went wrong for Sauber when they ditched Larini.

Are you kidding me? They rue to this day not having started that season with Norberto Fontana.

[LellaLombardi]

After this article, I fully expect a Sauber resurgence...

I certainly hope so.

When Peter Sauber re-acquired the team, he said at the time that he was doing it to save the jobs at the factory and the surrounding area which rely on Sauber. BMW were willing to give it back to him cheap, and he felt that if he was in a position to save all those jobs then he should. That sounded to me like a "somebody buy us, PLEASE?" call.

I don't think he will step in to save them again, and he shouldn't, the poor guy has to retire sometime. I just hope they find a way out of this soon because they are one of my favourite teams and it's sad to see them in this state.