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New owners enticed by Sauber’s potential outside of F1

Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn says its new owners Longbow Finance were attracted to invest in the potential it saw from the Swiss company's assets and strengths away from F1, and hinted at moving more efforts into other racing championships.

Sauber confirmed it was acquired by Swiss finance company Longbow Finance S.A. during the build up to last month's Hungarian Grand Prix, ending months of speculation surrounding money issues and its future in F1.

The deal sees Peter Sauber step down as group president and move into retirement to be replaced by Longbow Finance's Pascal Picci.

Kaltenborn, who has retained her position as CEO and team principal, has shed light on the reasons behind Longbow Finance's takeover with focus on the commercial capabilities of Sauber both in engineering industry and away from F1.

"Their clear intention is first of all to stabilise the situation - stabilise the group - and then strengthen and grow our engineering services," Kaltenborn told Formula1.com. "To broaden the third-party business with the services from our engineering side - to commercialise the technologies that we have, the know-how that we have.

"We have been doing this a long time - and that's where they are seeing a bigger potential. This part is not dependent on where we stand in Formula One.

"We are very much leading in the aerodynamic services, in simulation and software development - and in 3D we are also very strong. That can be taken to other racing series - or even in other areas where you can apply these procedures outside the world of motorsport. We are already out there in the market with certain things - and that is where Longbow Finance sees the potential."

The Sauber team boss has also hinted at securing a new title sponsor to bring more financial backing to the F1 squad.

Sauber's last title sponsor was BMW in a deal which ended in 2010 when the German manufacturer pulled out of the sport and gave sole ownership back to Sauber. Sauber also had title sponsorship from Red Bull between 1995-2004.

"I think that there will not be a name behind Sauber but I do certainly hope that there will be a name in front as a title sponsor," she said. "We are working very hard on that. And that is not easy, but if you can again show stability and confirm that to potential partners, that is in itself a big help."

Zdroj: crash.net