I read a story today suggesting that Manor driver Pascal Wehrlein has emerged as the leading candidate for Sauber’s second Formula 1 seat in 2017. Maybe I’m off the pace, but this is not the story I am picking up.
Yes, Wehrlein is in the frame, but it will require Mercedes to stump up cash at a level that they are unlikely to agree to. Sauber is not interested in engine deals and just wants finance. The logic of this may elude Mercedes, but it is part of a three-year recovery plan that the Swiss team has formulated. The 2017 season is all about getting points early on through reliability, hence the engine choice of a 2016 Ferrari, while others struggle to get newer 2017 engines right, and then as solid a financial year as possible, whilst preparing for something better in 2018, recruiting new staff, investing in facilities and so on. What that something is remains to be seen, but clearly there is long-term thinking going on that looks beyond the survival mode in 2017. The story also suggested that all is well between the team and Felipe Nasr and that the problem comes because of his sponsors, but again that is not what I am seeing. I see a relationship which is anything but happy, which is a shame because it would be best for both sides if they could stay together. Maybe they will sort it out. Felipe’s performance in Brazil was very good for everyone and pethaps it will help to build bridges, but as of now I don’t see anything being fixed. Nasr is pretty short of choices but for the relationship to continue Sauber needs to believe more.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and Sauber’s Monisha Kaltenborn did meet to discuss Wehrlein in Brazil, but by all accounts it was not a very productive meeting. Obviously, Wehrlein would like to move into a more stable environment than Manor (which is now out of the top 10 and thus worth less than before in any sale), but he doesn’t seem to have many choices. Mercedes will help the team on power unit costs, but it is not going to get into any junior team scenario, although this has been discussed. Mercedes does not need to do this, but still wants to find Wehrlein a berth, as it still believes, despite the recent Force India setback, that he is potentially a top driver. The value of junior teams is that they provide top teams with cheap talent, but this only works if the development process doesn’t cost too much. Thus if Mercedes wants Wehrlein to continue to develop, it must either pay what Sauber wants, or it must find someone to buy Manor and guarantee its stability. Investing in an F1 team is still a gamble but it is one that super-rich people can, perhaps, see value in. The problem is not the purchase price but rather the running costs and as sponsorship is difficult thesr days, it is B2B strategies, pay-drivers and junior team money that keep these operations afloat. The most likely scenario is a deal with Esteban Gutierrez, who has money to spend but has already been at Sauber and is not in demand there. Thus a Gutierrez and Wehrlein pairing makes sense at Manor, with Jordan King perhaps supported by his sponsors as third driver, going to all the F1 races and getting immersed in the sport, in preparation for 2018. if this doesn’t happen, Wehrlein could end up as Mercedes third driver and sit out the year. The bad news is that with Mercedes cutting back to six cars in DTM there are no spaces there, and indeed several drivers are going to lose out there as there are not enough cars to go around and Edoardo Mortara has already been signed to join the party. there has slso been talk of Antonio Giovinazzi being signed by Mercedes, but there really is no room for him, unless there is some bloodletting at HWA. I expect Giovanazzi to turn up somewhere in F1 next year, in a third driver role.
So who goes to Sauber? The man who seems most likely at the moment is Rio Haryanto, but he must come up with cash, rather than promises. He did a surprisingly good job against Wehrlein at Manor earlier this year, but dropped out as the Ocon Express passed through on the main line. This is Haryanto’s last chance because if he fails to deliver money twice the F1 world will shutter up for him in the future. The Indonesians have been through an educational process in the last 12 months and must now either put up, or shut up. Haryanto is a nice prospect for the country and so they should jump on his bandwagon. Right now, it is a seller’s market in terms of F1 seats, so there is no great need to hurry and so we shouldn’t expect any rapid announcements, unless people hit the financial targets being requested.
joeblogsf1 
Is the Sauber ‘story’ the kind of thing we can expect more of from AS now they are part of Clickbait Central Joe?
What a sad state of affairs.
It’s so much worse.Forget feeling towards who aren’t even bait in the river any more. Clickbait headlines are orders of magnitude away from helping them. At least, alone. Former CEOs of vast agency networks using the word “criminal”, without qualification… Oh, they meant the agencies … publishers long beyond hope, dust across the ocean, not islands, long squeezed into crumbling sand by agency sclerosis… I lament publishers without need of inverted commas, not a primordial soup by number of new species of the kind requiring them, who seem to thrive best on decaying flesh. I learned (and in some cases, re-learned) much which could effect results which can help actual (real publisher) cases. Maybe even better, one day. But such enthusiasm is “scientists discover breakthrough in battle against cancer”, the cold reality version. Fight fire with fire and it’s just Zippo v. napalm. Yep, death by other causes, technically improves a certain view of cancer “survival”. No market for band aids, unless I try scurrying in between barrages, among the few dugouts, and barter. Let them bait a click, gently a real story would wake a visitor, once. Or commenter died of metaphorosis. …
It would be a shame if Sauber dropped Nasr after he all but secured them much needed prize money next year. No chance of Nasr going to Manor if as you say he doesn’t have sponsor problems?
I must admit to being pleasantly surprised by Haryanto’s performances against Wehrlein but as you say Joe, if he doesn’t stump up the required finance he’ll have a reputation and at the lower end of the grid this would be terminal for his chances of future seats.
I thought the rules were changing so that an engine manufacturer can only offer 1 spec of engine? Allowing Ferrari to offer a sub-par engine seems grossly unfair
Personally I think that rule should go further. I would like to see it stipulated that if an engine manufacturer offers an engine for sale to customer teams, then they must supply it to all teams who wish to buy. If they want to keep it for their own team alone, that’s fine, but if they sell it there must be an open sale to all takers.
The benefits appear to me to be that either more teams acquire a competitive engine from the best manufacturer, or if manufacturers keep it to themselves, there are more opportunities for new manufacturers to enter the sport. It seems positive either way.
I am pretty confident hat Sauber choose the 2016 spec not had it forced on them. The cost will be considerably less and as Joe has said, the hope that reliability in the early races gain them points and the dollars that come with them
Musical chairs for grid fillers…
I can’t get excited about any of the drivers mentioned as possibilities as they are proven ( in Gutierrez case, over two full seasons ) commodities and have failed to excite. It is all down to money and the best hope for fans is an unknown with a so-so record emerges with the cash and does a Niki Lauda and pleasantly surprises us all.
PS. What of Pastor Maldonado? Venezuelan cash pipeline dried up and chances done for good- even to reach Indycar?
Have you looked at the political situation in Venezuela?
It seems that Wehrlein has a major attitude problem.
Well he didn’t blow Haryanto away and Ocon has came in halfway through and leapfrogged ahead, one may say he’s a bit miffed to say the least…
I don’t get that, ince F1 is a older demographic. Usually (maybe excluding parts of the web I only imagine) a hospitable welcome, even warm. Not the same whom agencies want as core fan base, for a career, but very much the balance of who both can spend time to comment, and who are articulate and liable to be constructive. And critically, who might risk comparisons to past greats, with any meaning. So, why do young drivers not recognise a easily enjoyed honeymoon / period of grace, at least for what small help that may be? I’m not meaning to admonish anyone in particular, just seems a waste. when every drop of goodwill is golden.
It’s the size if the sport, sure: American racing or DTM or anywhere else, can disguise a bit of being too brash, or even benefit from it possibly. And you must climb atop others’, surely, to first arrive. Please never again the early 00s press conferences, but I absolutely don’t want to make myself aware of more than on track business, at first. At most, I’ll note a intelligent demeanour. True, some have had problematic contracts and such stress, but still. Pander please to my premature preterannuation, if only because i’ll point out who’s new especially to anyone younger looking about for the likely suspects. (is that a plural?.. oh well.. that’s kinda my point). Which matters, if I’m paying … its too banal a default, having my viewing disturbed by whichever friend’s offspring . Also I found I much prefer trying to form some opinion with as near zero other knowledge as possible, now. Which fwiw only gets their car and sponsors more attention. Given the driver market down the grid, I’m not keen to form any attachment, either, despite ideally all would be otherwise for me.
creaking back into my bath chair,..
Oh,I made one solitary exception to my disinterest in new drivers’ character, which turned out on the whole well pleasing, and was pleasingly against apparent consensus, on just a hunch about the way he spoke, and all of us before a wheel was turned, so hardly serious stuff. But just that one exception in, well my brief forever. Now the new VES is a fixture, I almost think nobody will be thought much special, almost. Being that we’re used to such prodigy, obviously, now 🙂
Sauber last year: 3 drivers for 2 cars and a court case before the first race of the season. This is another thing that makes sponsors cautious of F1 and Sauber specifically.
The value of the remaining seats will go up the nearer the new season comes. It most probably will still take a while before we know the full grid.
It is a more complicated story than that
But did it put a dent into the reputation of Sauber? All in all it was a very messy situation and I wonder if it could have been avoided as it now has provided some bad press and silly situations during the first race and all but destroyed Giedo’s chances for a seat in F1.
Whenever I read about a sour relationship between a team and its driver, I tend to blame the team. Unless, that is, the driver in question is a bloody minded son of a bitch. By all accounts Felipe Nasr is not that, therefore we have to put it down to mismanagement. He seems to have had more than his fair share of tech glitches, to say the least. The other side of the garage may have had favourable treatment: that’s how it looks from afar.
For his sake I was hoping he might nab a drive at Renault. They went for Palmer!!!! F1 can be as mysterious as the magic circle.
I think that is not a very sensible view
He is very bloody minded in fact. Hard work too.
@Pol Moldav – Palmer beat Nasr in GP2, didn’t he? So why should Renault choosing Palmer over him mystify you?
Very well thought-out, Joe. The moment I read the news that Wehrlein was at the top of the list for Sauber’s remaining seat, it just didn’t make sense to assume that Mercedes would pay a Ferrari client to take a junior on board, they would only give a discounted price on an engine deal. By the way, have you noticed the absence of any Mercedes board members in the paddock since Monaco. Maybe MB is losing interest in F1, it sure would explain the surly look on Toto’s face if they were to pull out.
No they are not. It’s doing great things for their sales
New ownership soon at Manor, Joe?
Depends on the price
Hi Joe, I noticed that this article got copy and pasted into 2 articles for a notorious copy and paste news feed at least you were mentioned by name there but the news is drying up I guess.
On the driver market does the new regulations on the super license keep out less talented drivers who only have cash and credentials or is it too soon too tell?
P.s considering GP+ providing I can pay through ideal.
Joe! Talking about Mercedes backed drivers and DTM seats for 2017.
Do you think there’s any chance for Felix Rosenqvist to be given a chance at a F1seat for 2018 or a test driver role maybe next year for, say, Manor? His chances for a DTM seat for Mercedes should at least be very good despite the fact that they cut down from eight to six seats.
I know it maybe is a bit far-fetched and I know Felix has a contract to drive FE with Mahindra racing for the 2016-2017 season but shouldn’t Felix otherwise be next in line at Mercedes since Ocon left DTM for Manor this past summer?
Felix has had a really amazing year and actually passed Ocon’s total score in points in DTM this year in just two race weekends. I think it’s fair to say that if it comes down to shear talent, it should be a no-brainer actually. But maybe Felix backing is not strong enough for Mercedes to consider him in F1 at all?
What do you think?
No
That’s a shame. I’d never heard of Rosenqvist before the new Formula E season, but he’s already mightily impressed me.
So it is a possibility that Wehrlein is seatless next year whilst Haryanto returns – quite a turn of events in just 4 months. I would like to see Rio back as he showed a good, and improving, turn of pace and it is very important to have an Asian driver in F1. Not to forget he is also a personable chap.
As for Pascal I think he also deserves a better drive. Many of the circuits he visited this year were firsts for him. However I do understand Force India’s decision to go with Ocon after watching their relative performances in the proving ground of a wet Interlagos.
Any chance of Giovanazzi popping up at Sauber?
Money….
Gio depends on Ricardo Gelael for funding. I’m not so sure Ricardo will fund him in anything other than WEC next year alongside Sean, although I’m not sure that they’ve even decided whether that’s the direction they’ll go in. But they did well in the Shanghai 6 hour race and the 2 boys get to work together in such an environment.
Joe, what is situation with Nasr and his sponsorship money of Banco do Brasil? Will they back him up next year, or it is finished story?
I think it depends on which team is involved
So, nothing for Manor seat than? 🙂