Kaltenborn: Finishing 10th is unacceptable for Sauber

Monisha Kaltenborn believes it would be unacceptable for Sauber to finish 10th in the Constructors’ Championship, behind Marussia, this season. The Swiss team currently holds this position in the Constructors’ standings just ahead of Caterham. The team remains hopeful of becoming a competitive team again for the end of the 2014 season.

Since its entry into F1 in 1993, Sauber has scored points every season. Not scoring points this season would be chaotic, as Kaltenborn explains to *Autosport*: “First of all, morally it would be a big step back because in 22 years of F1 activity, Sauber has never been in this position – so it’s something we really don’t want to think about. Beyond that, of course, it has a financial impact. We have to remain realistic, but the message is that 10th position is not acceptable for us. [The idea of not scoring points] is something I don’t even want to consider. Our first goal must be to score points. Then, we will see what that brings us.”

Sauber believes they suffered from the power deficit of Ferrari’s hybrid engine compared to the competition, but Monisha Kaltenborn does not want to end the relationship between Sauber and the Italian engine manufacturer. This does not prevent the head of Sauber from renewing her confidence in Ferrari: « We will stay with them. When we were changing the power unit, we could have considered other options, but we did not. Ferrari has supported us through very difficult times, particularly when Peter [Sauber] bought back the team [after BMW’s departure]. I believe that such partnerships in Formula 1 are very valuable. I can assure you they are at least as disappointed as we are with this performance and they are doing everything they can to improve things. We will come out of this rough patch. »