Kaltenborn leaves Sauber
Discussion
With immediate effect, no real reason other than the owners Longbow finance are keen to bring in their own individual to run the team day to day, possible I guess but I wonder if there's something else going on like Honda insisting on a Japanese team principle along with the works engine, maybe they'll become a works team again?
DanielSan said:
When it comes to team principals it can't get much worse, until they get Kolles in to replace her. It's a bit like getting Flávio Briatore to do your pit stop strategies.
Kolles did a stellar job at Midland/Spyker, HRT and Caterham. It's like having an albatross land on your boat.I agree, Kolles is almost guaranteed to ruin what is left of Sauber. How he keeps getting back in as a Team Principal is beyond me.
As for Kaltenborn, I was never a fan of her either, but if what Autosport report is true, then fair dues to her standing her ground. Ericsson is middling at best and although Wehrlien maybe isn't as good as first thought, he's a damn sight better than Ericsson.
As for Kaltenborn, I was never a fan of her either, but if what Autosport report is true, then fair dues to her standing her ground. Ericsson is middling at best and although Wehrlien maybe isn't as good as first thought, he's a damn sight better than Ericsson.
The driver argument is a smokescreen, she couldn't care less who was driving the car other than how much cash they could bring.
The Le Mans car was effectively out after 3 corners, just unfortunate circumstances with debris from the Toyota that cause it to overheat and damaged the engine. It may well have won had that not happened.
The Le Mans car was effectively out after 3 corners, just unfortunate circumstances with debris from the Toyota that cause it to overheat and damaged the engine. It may well have won had that not happened.
Otispunkmeyer said:
Motorsport.com cites that the team owners want to give preference to Ericsson over Wherlein and she doesn't agree with what they want to do.
Either way... she wasn't brilliant.
Really? Peter Sauber was no fool, and he not only trusted her, but also gifted her 1/3 of the team (IIRC).Either way... she wasn't brilliant.
She is highly regarded up and down the paddock.
I bet she appears somewhere else quiet quickly, if she wants to stay at F1.
Vaud said:
Really? Peter Sauber was no fool, and he not only trusted her, but also gifted her 1/3 of the team (IIRC).
She is highly regarded up and down the paddock.
I bet she appears somewhere else quiet quickly, if she wants to stay at F1.
I agree - I think she needed some better PR people at the time of the mulit-driver debacle, but then there's probably more to the Van De Garde story than meets the eye. And as a lawyer she was probably aware of what she should and shouldn't say at that time. I wouldn't rule her out resurfacing in the Liberty team somewhere.She is highly regarded up and down the paddock.
I bet she appears somewhere else quiet quickly, if she wants to stay at F1.
Kolles is apparently not in the running. Fred Vasseur and Dave Ryan have been mentioned.
The team have released statements saying the allegation of unfair treatment between the drivers is untrue.
As far as Monisha goes, the whole contract thing was clearly to keep the cashflow going. The real question is how they got to that point.
Sauber was done when he sold it to BMW and was reluctant to get involved after BMW announced their departure, he did so out of a sense of duty I seem to recall. Monisha came along and he saw someone that he could gradually offload the team on to and thats exactly what he did.
Problem is no-one was looking forwards at the long term. The team goes from podium finisher to back marker in 2 seasons.
Williams struggled at one point - they diversified and then sold that business, Force India manage on small budgets. Sauber failed to look past the current season and then found themselves in difficulties. Ultimately you have to look to the leadership at that point.
Kaltenborn has also said some very stupid things - F1 is poor value for sponsors (while desperately trying to find some for the team) stands out as particularly daft.
With that said, the whole longbow situation is weird, they aren't racers, if they were in it to promote their man why not just buy a seat somewhere ? Its what the Strolls have done. On the flip side, owning a team didn't go well for GENII did it ? so as an investment house, why follow that example ? Maybe financials are starting to bite, hence the disagreements with Kaltenborn ?
Assuming it survivies the team have a 2+ year journey to re-capture former glories if the money and expertise are put in place.
The team have released statements saying the allegation of unfair treatment between the drivers is untrue.
As far as Monisha goes, the whole contract thing was clearly to keep the cashflow going. The real question is how they got to that point.
Sauber was done when he sold it to BMW and was reluctant to get involved after BMW announced their departure, he did so out of a sense of duty I seem to recall. Monisha came along and he saw someone that he could gradually offload the team on to and thats exactly what he did.
Problem is no-one was looking forwards at the long term. The team goes from podium finisher to back marker in 2 seasons.
Williams struggled at one point - they diversified and then sold that business, Force India manage on small budgets. Sauber failed to look past the current season and then found themselves in difficulties. Ultimately you have to look to the leadership at that point.
Kaltenborn has also said some very stupid things - F1 is poor value for sponsors (while desperately trying to find some for the team) stands out as particularly daft.
With that said, the whole longbow situation is weird, they aren't racers, if they were in it to promote their man why not just buy a seat somewhere ? Its what the Strolls have done. On the flip side, owning a team didn't go well for GENII did it ? so as an investment house, why follow that example ? Maybe financials are starting to bite, hence the disagreements with Kaltenborn ?
Assuming it survivies the team have a 2+ year journey to re-capture former glories if the money and expertise are put in place.
It doesn't take a lot of reading between the lines of the Autosport / motorsport.com article to get a better view of what's going on. The owners of Sauber are effectively Marcus Ericsson's backers (owners of TetraPak) and will have kept Monisha onboard for stability reasons as much as anything else. As things have developed they don't see eye to eye so she's out, she no longer has any shares in the team (when Longbow took control they were sold/surrendered) so is purely an employee.
I don't doubt for a moment that the owners want to favour Ericsson, and that the rest of the team disagree though. Maybe there will be a third driver jumping into Pascal's car on Friday mornings pretty soon.
I don't doubt for a moment that the owners want to favour Ericsson, and that the rest of the team disagree though. Maybe there will be a third driver jumping into Pascal's car on Friday mornings pretty soon.
Joe's as usual forthright view - https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2017/06/22/oh-what...
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