It’s an interesting start to the relationship when you say that you are open to anything. Actually, depending on who you are, that may be a good or bad thing.
That’s apparently what Sauber believes regarding their new relationship for 2018 with Honda and according to team boss, Monisha Kaltenborn, they’re open for anything.
“We’ll see how it all pans out,” Kaltenborn said. “We’re really at the beginning now.
“I don’t know their deals with McLaren. We are a very different project and we’ll see where we can benefit from each other in this.
“We’ve been in situations where we were a manufacturer team, we’re not a manufacturer team now, we’re a customer to them.
“But we know that there are a lot of opportunities there, and this is one of the reasons why we decided for this partnership.
“It’s far too early to say we’ll be doing this and that but, yes, we’re open to anything.”
I would assume they’d be open to concepts that might help their chassis design or gearbox or anything else that might make the car go faster and last longer. Who wouldn’t be up for that?
On the other hand, some of what they may be getting could be hinged on what McLaren’s deal with Honda is. There is no information that’s public about what McLaren are entitled to with their contract or what a new team might get but I would imagine the first to the party has the most advantageous seat.
Hat Tip: Autosport
I think she’s talking about the business side of things, not the technical. If I were Sauber I would be viewing this as and opportunity to step into a non-client relationship (read: factory team) should McLaren choose to part ways with Honda. Sauber is in a position to sweet talk Honda away from McLaren. And that’s exactly what they want ultimately. Peter Sauber stepped back in to save the team when BMW bailed on them. He didn’t WANT to. He felt he HAD too. He’s still looking for an exit Strategy and Honda is their best bet. All they have… Read more »
Of course Sauber would do almost anything Honda suggested if it meant an influx of cash and interest to the team. We never saw a Honda-powered McLaren hypercar or McLaren-branded Honda NSX but I bet we see a Sauber-brand version of the Honda Civic and/or the coming NSX replacement and even the Sauber F1 runner inside upcoming Honda advertising campaigns.