Sauber to stay with Ferrari F1 engines

The Swiss-based Sauber Formula One team has announced a multi-year agreement to continue using Ferrari engines after this season.

Friday’s deal came a day after the team, sitting ninth in the championship, and Honda cancelled a planned partnership from 2018.

It also ensures Ferrari, the sport’s oldest and most-successful team, retain two customer outfits in addition to their own works entry.

Sauber principal Frederic Vasseur said his team’s long history with Ferrari would allow them “to move forward swiftly and efficiently, also in terms of the development of the 2018 car”.

Sauber are using last year’s Ferrari power unit this season, but Vasseur had told reporters earlier at the Hungarian Grand Prix that such a situation could not continue in 2018.

“It’s also probably more difficult to motivate everybody in the team, if you start the season with the engine from the previous year,” he said.

“It’s not a matter of money. I think it’s important for the team … for every single person in the team, to be sure that we are pushing like hell on every single department. We need to have the last spec (specification) of engine for sure.”

He also emphasised the deal would have to include the gearbox, which Sauber would be unable to build for themselves.

The move casts doubt on the future of the team’s line-up, with Germany’s Pascal Wehrlein a Mercedes-backed driver, while Ferrari have in the past placed some of their own academy youngsters with Sauber.

Ferrari-backed Monegasque Charles Leclerc is leading the Formula Two series and Ferrari’s Italian reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi had replaced the injured Wehrlein earlier this season for two races.

Sauber’s plans to link with Honda, whose engine has failed miserably in comparison to rivals with current sole partners McLaren in last place, fell apart after the June departure of former principal Monisha Kaltenborn.

Mercedes and Renault, each supplying three teams, are the sport’s other engine manufacturers.

Sauber have used Ferrari engines since 2010, after BMW’s withdrawal from the sport.

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