Legal reasons, I read here they want to get TV money although I'm confused about it as they haven't signed CA anyway. Maybe they still need to be allowed to change their name, they can't change like that, it has to be approved by other teams and FIA body.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls...l-sauber.com%22

I don't know what you see after clicking this link, but i dont see a Sauber's website I see Google's website.
So again: where you see this address ?

Click on the "Cached"-link at the first result. The cached version of this site contains an e-mail adress which ends with "@aol-sauber.com".

I do like AOL's new logo - it'd look really good on the side of an F1 car.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL

Hmm. AOL just announced to close down offices around Europe, among them those in Germany, Spain and Sweden, operations in other countries are rumored to be effected too. I think i read somewhere that they wanted to concentrate on the UK only. So why would they want to be title sponsor of a swiss team with japanese/spanish drivers in a basically euro-centric F1?

The worst thing happened in F1. The best or second best car has one of the worst driver pairing EVER.

It's so easy to fool people this years.

De la Rosa rules out wins, podiums for Sauber
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp...56470&FS=F1
When asked by the Spanish press if he will be on the podium in 2010, the 38-year-old answered: "We will try, but it is not really possible.
"We have to be realistic. Our aspirations are to calmly get the most points we can, not to win races,"

There you go.

Not particulary inspiring. I'll bet Kobi will be aiming for podiums, realistic or not.

You can aim for anything, but it´s a little bit stupid to say IM going to win, even if you are in the Ferrari right now...

As he should, too! I'll be disappointed if Kamikaze Kobayashi doesn't get the better of Pedro this year.

Here is a very telling interview with Klien about his negotiations with Sauber and Renault (in German).


Q: Why did no race seat worked out for you during the recent negotiations?
Klien: Because compared to other drivers I obviously can not offer the overall package of speed and experience, geographic market value and economic components, such as sponsoring partners.
It is no secret that the "business factor" of a driver in the current economic situation is a huge competitive element. But that is not to say that Pedro de la Rosa and Vitaly Petrov are also excellent drivers, for example.

Q: How close were you tuned to the two mentioned cockpits at Sauber and Renault?
Klien: One has only to look to when each driver pairing was announced. Sauber was my first point, I've been at the factory in Hinwil for two years as test and reserve driver.
Peter Sauber has always been completely open and gave me no illusions regarding the economic components. I appreciate it very much. He waited until the last moment for the driver decision.
I was on Renault's driver short list until 24 hours before the announcement. You could really talk about a last-minute decision here. The second driver was not fixed until the morning of the car reveal. The decision was obviously not easy for the team.

http://twitpic.com/12kiju
sponsored by Bahrain

Isn't the car great looking from this angle? Sure it is!

Waouw the car is invredibly pure, it reminds of some kind of marine creatures.

Or can Peter pick em? PDLR and Kobayashi have been impressive none the less, generally at the top of the winter test sheets.

a simple answer is No.

a more complex answer, it is testing, last year buemi in the toro rosso was coming first in nearly every test till brawn showed up, didnt mean the car was fast come australia, quite the opposite.

i dont think sauber are fast, but i dont think they will be at the back.

Kobayashi was in the lower half of the timesheet for the most of the day today (thursday), he did one quick PR lap on a short stint in the end that put him on top.

Your point is correct, however the example is not. STR were testing with their '08 car most of last winter, hence the topping of the time sheets.

Nobody in their right mind is taking fastest laps seriously at this stage. Reliability and a good look are the key points at the moment and even then bear little relation to the Bahrain grid.

You'd completely think otherwise reading the McLaren thread. Apparently testing = competition.

Not last year.

So this time last year a Torro Rosso was topping the timesheetss until Brawn turned up! Today I just got odds at Ladbrokes for Pedro de la Rosa of 100/1 and Trulli at 200/1 - I can only live in hope that history can repeat itself. If we also mix up the initials of AOL BMW Sauber Ferrari we would get BASF - hasn`t that been in Motorsport before?

why are Sauber STILL not listed on the F1 or FIA websites?



Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
Mercedes GP
Red Bull Racing
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
AT&T Williams
Renault F1 Team
Force India F1 Team
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Lotus F1 Racing
Campos Meta 1
US F1 Team
Virgin Racing

I guess some legal dealings with Sauber claiming to be "BMW Sauber F1 Team" and the FIA/FOM claiming they're a new team.

I was wondering the same thing. I'm guessing a name change before Bahrain is in the works

PDLR didn't want to drive today, cool.

Syntium is a Petronas' lubricants brand, they've gone to Merc.
Don't know what happened to Intel and T-Mobile but one sponsor you didn't mention, FxPro, have gone to Virgin.



I love this sidepods shape.

Stupid Sauber already repeating BMW's silly mistakes. When everybody finally have a chance to test in a dry track, they have a stupid problem that ruins their oportunity.

I'm certain this car is a backmarker and will only for sure beat the new teams.

I fear you may be right, but I sincerely hope you're not.

The Sauber of old was a solid midfield team, and I want them to return at least to that

I seriously don't get how it is classified as a stupid mistake.

I agree.
It was a mechanical problem and there was not enough time to repair and resume.
The only debate here is if they should have tried to squeeze an extra 10 or 15 minutes of track time into the afternoon.
Since we don't know the facts, we must accept the call.

I don't see the big teams ruining their dry running with "fuel system problem".

You think they did it on purpose then?

There have been plenty if instances where the big teams have had problems, just because they havent happened during these tests, doesn't mean they are always perfect.

We'll see who'll have the reliabilty when the season starts. Don't be so defeatist before the seasen even starts.

The C29 definetly seems like a rocket, if your brave you'd put some money on them getting a win in Bahrain Go Kobayashi that guy seems like a good ol' sport!

History likes to repeat, but not so often .... Better do not set yourself on fire with the C29, because you may be really disappointed in Bahrain.

I'm not I'm just saying if you want to make some serious dosh it's a possibility I mean this is F1 anything can happen. Just as a sidenote whoelse loves the sound of the C29 downshifting sounds just like the F1.09 great sound very growly like

Any truth to this story;

http://www.tomorrownewsf1.com/f1-de-la-ros...ns-deuros-11482

Basically it says that DelaRosa has to come up with 5 million euro more or he loses his Sauber drive.

Wow, that would be weird.

James Allen has said on his website that De La Rosa is paying less than a million euros.

I've always found that figure quite hard to believe given that 1) Sauber need cash, 2) De La Rosa isn't exactly Niki Lauda.

Is De La Rosa down to test this week?

And who would they stick in as his replacement?

Under normal circumstances I would have said anyone with money, but at this late date and with no in-season testing then they would either need to drop PDLR before the next test, or the replacement will have to already be a superlicense holder.

You are always saying the same about Pedro and JA Allen the same... Pedro not is a pay driver also is finding money for help the team the same is doing Kobayashi for help to the team to stay competitive.

And maybe bad for you but he will test Thursday and friday.

I'm sorry, that's just not true.

Pedro is bringing Sauber cash, therefore paying.

The amount is up for debate, but he is a pay driver.

So can you confirm that Pedro is supposed to find X million sponsorship for the team as part of the deal he made with Sauber or is that not true whatsoever?

Don't reply to flaimbait.

I think Pedro can also bring some cash, but he's definitively not a donkey, he's no more a youngster, truth, but last time he sat on a mclaren without a consistent recent driving he took a podium in Canada....right?

I saw it as stupidity rather than flamebaiting.

Wrong.