Sauber F1

F1 testing never fails to throw up more questions than it puts down answers, and this year is no different.

Thanks to the preseason tests being unofficial, we have no way of knowing what teams are testing what and, most importantly, on what fuel loads.

We only have what the teams tell us in their interviews and press releases, and you can pretty much guarantee they never tell the media everything.

Every year there are surprises, a team or an individual driver being fast or slow.

This year that surprise, at least after three days at Valencia, are Sauber.

They unveiled their new car, the C29, on Monday in a launch I compared to delivering a baby in the carpark of a budget supermarket.

However, since then the child has grown up rapidly and seems to be filling out an application for a top university (I’ll stop the analogy now).

On each of the three days the new Sauber, variously in the hands of Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi, has turned the second fastest lap time behind Ferrari.

This, of course, brings up the perennial testing question: Is the pace real?

Every cynic will tell you it’s not.

They will point at the vast expanses of white, unsponsored car and driver fire suit and tell you that their testing performances are simply an attempt to grab headlines and attract sponsors for the coming season.

But no one is saying that about Ferrari. Well, of course not, I hear you cry; Ferrari have all the money and sponsorship they could ever need. And yes, they do, but you see how the presence of a few logos changes the way you interpret results.

So, could the new Sauber actually be that quick?

Possibly.

It should be a familiar story. Manufacturer pulls out after disappointing season, and team is bought out by management. It’s a terrifyingly lofty benchmark, but could Sauber be the new Brawn?

Go back 12 months and you’ll find similar discussions as to whether Brawn GP were genuinely as fast as they appeared, and the similarities extend to the expertise of the men behind the car.

Firstly, Peter Sauber and his team know how to put together a car. Before BMW bought into the team, they were consistently the fastest privateer team, and that before you consider their exploits with the old Group C Mercedes sportscars.

The team also largely consists of the same people who worked for the team under its previous guise, though the staff were trimmed by a round 100 due to the loss of BMW’s financial input. These are the same people who were still updating the old car until the final races of last year.

But could that be a problem?

Unlike Honda or Toyota, BMW made the final decision to withdraw from Formula One relatively early on in the season in late July. Does that mean while the Japanese duo both continued chassis development, BMW passed up the opportunity to develop a new car for 2010, allowing them to try an improve a car that others teams would have written off?

Then what effect did the mess with the failed Qadbak buyout have? Is the new Sauber a considered piece of design started last year, when many of the other teams began work, or a car thrown together over the offseason once their place on the grid was secured in November?

That could be crucial. It is widely accepted that one of the reasons Brawn were so quick initially is that they benefitted from a Honda design that had been started months before anyone else’s.

Sauber also don’t have the benefit of last year’s paradigm shift in rules that helped mix up the grid so effectively.  

But what’s the biggest piece of evidence it may just be posturing? The team—and I don’t just mean technical director Willy Rampf’s fantastically noncommittal statement that the team had run with a “variety of fuel loads” in a year when the fuel loads, and so the time differences, are going to be bigger than ever.

No, it’s the drivers. Both de la Rosa and Kobayashi have lapped three-tenths shy of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. I think you’d be hard pushed to find anyone this side of the Sauber PR department who believed you could put those four in a single talent bracket.

That could mean the Sauber is even faster than its lap times suggest—but that’s entering the world of make believe.

Only two seats remain open for the 2010 season in Formula 1 with the two seats belonging to new teams Campos and US F1.

Yet one experienced and talented driver has been left at the wayside even from these rookie teams, and is without a first team drive for the new season.

And I don't mean Kimi Raikkonen, as the decision for him to switch to rallying was mostly his own; he surely would have taken a drive elsewhere if passion had taken precedence.

Despite being the most experienced driver to not score a race win there is no denying the potential of German driver Nick Heidfeld. Although many will see his 2008 season at the hands of a beautifully adapted BMW as a disappointment, he is arguably more equipped to compete at the highest level than much of the current field.

I remember watching Nick in his title winning drive in his final season in Formula 3000 and recognised his skill set as one to look out for in his move to the highest tier of the motor racing world.

His debut season as Prost provided little to warrant a continuation but it was his development at Sauber that caused spectators to first take note. A credible tally of points and two top ten overall drivers championship finishes saw him transferred to a season at the failing Jordan team before the chance of greater success was offered to him.

In Heidfeld’s switch to the Williams team who would later become BMW he provided us with a glimpse of the immediate pace and capability that he held.

In his time at the team he achieved eight second place finishes, proving himself to be no fluke, and also established a record breaking run of forty-one consecutive finishes spanning from the French Grand Prix of 2007 to the Italian Grand Prix of 2009.

Even towards the end of the 2008 season when BMW collapsed spectacularly in their pace both Nick and his team mate Kubica gained a few extra points meaning Heidfeld scored in more than half of his forty-one straight finishes.

Without a race win to his name it is obvious to critics that the driver may not be the best in the world of Formula 1, but with the likes of Kovalainen retaining drives for the 2010 season it seems rather unfair that Nick be left with a probable test drive with the re-branded Mercedes Grand Prix, as opposed to a full time drive even if it had been at the hands of a weaker team.

Whether it spells the end of a career that still could have been is yet to be seen. However as previously seen with drivers relegated to test driver status it is ever the more so difficult to reclaim a starting position for follow up seasons.

Especially with the in season testing ban becoming a permanent fixture within the sport and its budget cap, Heidfeld may be left to look elsewhere for a more prominent opportunity. It would not come as a surprise if he were to look for alternative racing options outside of Formula 1, where a field of fiery and enticing opponents could still be found.

Of course with many drivers and indeed teams being challenging to predict in their pace this season Heidfeld may be able to seize a chance of any changes in driver line ups mid-season, but it is not the expectation that either himself or we as spectators should expect for such a worthy driver.

The team may have given up hope on the German but I for one am willing to believe in a man who has too much to show to be left outside of the action.

Sauber has announced the signing of McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa as their lead driver for the 2010 Formula One season.

The Spaniard will partner former Toyota driver Kamui Kobayashi at the Swiss-based team, independent once again after German automotive giant BMW pulled out of the sport at the end of 2009.

de la Rosa hasn't raced since 2006 when he replaced Juan Pablo Montoya at McLaren, and doesn't have the greatest points-to-races ratio.

The move is good for both Sauber and de la Rosa. Sauber get an experienced racing driver, and one with considerable development mileage throughout his time at McLaren, while de la Rosa gets the race seat he's coveted for some time now.

de la Rosa's move says big things about the future of incoming team Campos Meta and Nick Heidfeld's future in F1.

Campos had hoped to secure the Spaniard to race alongside Bruno Senna in their debut year, not a bad move for a new F1 team, and a Spanish one at that.

Former BMW-Sauber driver Heidfeld's options in F1 for 2010 are further limited after Michael Schumacher's return meant a possible move to Mercedes was ended, and world champion Jenson Button's move to McLaren ended aspirations for the German to return there.

The only respectable drives then available to Heidfeld were to sign for Sauber, or alongside Robert Kubica at Renault. The latter is now the only option for a competitive drive.

The remaining unconfirmed race seats include the drive at Campos, two spaces at USF1, and a seat at Toro Rosso, which is believed to be secured by Jaime Alguersauri.

If he fails to secure the Renault seat, Heidfeld could face the prospect of no F1 drive in 2010 with uncertainties over the entries of USF1 and Campos.

There is also the possibility of Ferrari test driver Giancarlo Fisichella being loaned out to a team if a seat is available, another rival to Heidfeld securing a 2010 drive, along with a number of potential rookies.

Heidfeld's record isn't bad from his 10 years in F1. Despite not winning a race, he has 219 points from his 167 race starts including 12 podium finishes, the majority of those coming during his time with BMW-Sauber.

A record far superior to de la Rosa's own record.

Surely an F1 team would love to have a driver who holds the record for most consecutive race classifications? But that appears not to be the case so far.

There has not, so far, been much talk of Heidfeld joining Renault, although very little has been said about who will partner Kubica following their recent troubles off the track, and partial buyout.

From being touted for a drive with the current world champions to being an unwanted man in such a short period of time has to be difficult to take, although he remains confident of a drive.

Heidfeld said on his website earlier this month, "Now we have to look forward and focus on the best long-term option for my future in Formula 1. I will continue to train hard, conduct talks with the appropriate people and to challenge my chance with all my might," he said.

"I hope in the coming weeks to be able to announce something concrete about my future plans."

Talking to your manager doesn't mean too much. There is no indication from any team that they are interested.

What now for Heidfeld? Will Renault save the day, or will he be destined for the F1 scrapheap, and weekends driving a DTM car like countryman Ralf Schumacher?

In the latest twist to Formula One's silly season, rumours are circulating that McLaren Reserve and Test driver Pedro de la Rosa will join Sauber for 2010.

Sauber boss Peter Sauber has made it known that he has already signed an "experienced driver" to partner rookie Kamui Kobayashi this season, that it will be a surprise, and that it is not Heidfeld, the man who spent seven years driving for them 2001 and 2009.

Unless Ralf Schumacher has succeeded in his attempts to come back, de la Rosa is the favourite.

At 38, de la Rosa, who will become the second oldest driver on the grid behind Schumacher, is believed to have considerable backing from an unknown Spanish sponsor, believed to be Santander or La Caixa, which will be very welcome at Hinwil.

de la Rosa has not raced competitively in F1 since the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix after he replaced Juan Pablo Montoya half way through the season.

The Spaniard has made 72 race starts, mostly running at the back of the grid with the former Arrows and Jaguar teams, claiming 29 points, with a solitary podium finish to his name at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2006 for McLaren, where he finished second, ahead of Heidfeld for BMW-Sauber.

The news will come as a double blow for former driver Nick Heidfeld who lost out on a drive with Mercedes following the return of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher last month.

Should Heidfeld remain in F1, the only credible drive available for him will be the second seat at Renault with former BMW-Sauber team mate Robert Kubica.

The news will also come to a blow for Spanish team Campos Meta who had wanted de la Rosa to partner rookie Bruno Senna during their first season in F1.

Diario Sport, a Spanish daily sports newspaper, has reported that de la Rosa has denied the claims he has signed for Sauber, but time will tell.

Nick Heidfeld is one of the most consistent and talented F1 drivers of this generation and has the dubious record of having the most number of starts without winning a race. The German driver was part of the West McLaren young driver’s program and was also backed by the motorsport division of Mercedes Benz and was also the official test driver for the McLaren team during the 1998 and 1999 seasons.

He also won the International Formula 3000 in 1999 which was the precursor to the current GP2 series.

For the 2000 season, he signed up with Prost GP and had a miserable season and he was with an unresponsive and uncompetitive car which more or less did not even last a race distance. He had 10 retirements out of 17 races and failed to score any points at all. During 2001 he signed up with Sauber and future World Champion Kimi Räikkönen was his rookie teammate.

Though Heidfeld was very impressive and outperformed Kimi, the vacant McLaren seat which was created due to Mika Häkkinen’s retirement but Kimi took the seat and Heidfeld continued in Sauber for two more seasons with decent consistent performances.

A move to the ailing Jordan team in 2004 did him no good and after an average season with the team he was finally signed by a big team as he raced for the Williams F1 team during the 2005 season. Though he was impressive during the first half of the season, his form tapered away towards the end and also the BMW’s partnership with Williams came to an end and Heidfeld moved to the newly formed BMW Sauber team after BMW took over the Swiss team.

Though BMW did not have any lofty ambitions during its first two seasons, Heidfeld was very consistent and was defiantly the best driver on the grid not driving a Ferrari, McLaren and Renault during this phase. Heidfeld even managed to break the most consecutive classified finishes record with 41 straight finishes which started with the 2007 French GP and ended with the 2009 Italian GP.

Though he has outperformed Kubica his teammate for three years in two out of the three seasons together in BMW, Kubica had a golden 2008 as till he final few races he was in contention for the driver’s title while the team actually led the constructor’s championship for a short bit and also scored its only win with Kubica winning 2008 Canadian GP with Heidfeld following him in second.

Things were finally looking good for Heidfeld as he was in a team which can actually challenge for the titles but 2009 was disastrous for the BMW team as due to variety of reasons, the team pulled off its F1 program and Sauber was once again an independent team.

The takeover of Brawn GP by Mercedes brought back Heidfeld into the limelight once again as due to his smooth driving style and his nationality there was talk of him partnering fellow German Nico Rosberg in an all German superteam but Heidfeld’s lack of race win along with Rosberg’s own failure to win a race so far in his career is not helping Heidfeld’s chance with Mercedes GP.

He was briefly linked to a race seat with McLaren but Button’s shocking move there has removed any chances with McLaren.

Though there are still seats vacant in the grid, Heidfeld has to wait not only on Schumacher’s comeback decision but also has to wait if Kubica would turn his back on Renault as these two are the hot favourites to take the vacant Mercedes seat.

If Schumacher does make a comeback, Heidfeld can re-forge his partnership with Kubica for Renault or he can go back to his old team of Sauber which will be powered by a customer Ferrari engine but time is running out for Heidfeld.

He has always been at the right place at the wrong time and if he fails to land a Mercedes GP seat, chances of Heidfeld finishing his career without a win is very high and he will have the dubious distinction of having score more points and races without a win.

An unwanted record for a driver like Heidfeld, who will always be known as a very smooth operator but unless he gets a car which can win him races, we will never know if Heidfeld could have been a F1 great or just another talented youngster who failed in the big stage.

Of all the places that Kamui Kobayashi could have ended up I don’t think Sauber would have been top of the predicted list.

This is not to say that Sauber can not build upon the talented Japanese drivers’ impressive credentials, yet Kobayashi as a result may take a year or two in the midfield pack to begin what eventually could become a prosperous career.

This sadly was always an opposing inevitability as the expected permanent drive and hopeful revolution at Toyota was abruptly forfeited when the manufacturer cowered away from the sport.

But surely Kamui Kobayashi would not be a forgotten gem that may never grace the sport again. Many ushered their views that this was a driver who should not be left without a seat for the new season. He was indeed a mouth watering prospect as a new driver.

Sauber are an accomplished team in certain respects; they have a credible points tally, and even more credible reliability in selecting gifted races. They were the team after all who gave the likes of Heidfeld, Raikkonen and even an eccentric and clumsy Massa, who at the time showed no real spark. But the team has never been able to produce a car capable of greatness, mustering third place finishes at best to accompany a collection of average performances.

Unfulfilled early season promises of pace always seemed outdone by a faded latter part of the season where other teams progressed and Sauber simply did not.

Obviously they will benefit now from the former BMW input which despite the tragic 2009 season showed great evolution in the proceeding seasons, at one point gifting them a lead in the drivers’ title at the hands of Robert Kubica.

The strategic skills and immediate pace revealed by Kobayashi, especially in Abu Dhabi should stand Peter Sauber and his outfit in good stead for the 2010 season, and there is a hope that their return to the sport may be the occurrence that finally makes them something truly special.

As we now exist in a world of Formula 1 where all teams have an equal chance of succession it theoretically could go either way for the team.

Sauber could burst onto the 2010 season with a capable car at the hands of an exciting and powerful driver, or they could belly flop their way onto the grid at the first grand prix and never come out of the starting blocks. A driver in this position for a team may always suffer the result of damaging his career, leaving an exit from the sport foreseeable, if not a continuation in the sport at smaller and less able teams.  

Previous form would dictate that Sauber would begin somewhere in the middle and drift off to the latter. Much will also depend on who they name as the second driver to Kobayashi, and also whether the Japanese driver can actually continue to portray the evident talents that he possessed last season.

You would not expect him to fade into the background but the pressure could begin to show and he could follow in the footsteps of a driver like Nakajima who just seemed lost with a lack of purpose.

The ease with which he partook in his first two Grand Prix however showed a man void of the expected pressure that would befall upon a rookie coming into a sport of mostly sensational drivers. He also had the added pressure of driving for a Japanese team in need of a much needed morale boost, and his triumphant entrance therefore worked wonders for the Japanese audience, garnering a barrage of new fans to the sport.

Sauber will show us what they are made of when the season starts in March, and now with Kobayashi at the forefront of their campaign much interest will be focused directly at them.

Their own succession therefore is laid bare in their hands once more; to create a car worthy of a worthy ability. If this can be achieved then both the team and the exhilarating rookie driver can produce a great display of accomplishment and enact a flourishing of their futures.

BMW Sauber has finally been confirmed as the 13th entry for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship following Toyota's decision to leave the sport.

BMW had decided to quit the sport before Toyota, but negotiations of a buy out with the mysterious Qadbak Investments Ltd consortium led to the team failing to sign the new Concorde Agreement, and ultimately facing the prospect of not being on the grid in 2010.

Following Toyota's decision to renege on the Concorde Agreement and the collapse of the Qadbak deal, former Sauber team owner, Peter Sauber, stepped in to lead the buyout from BMW.

On Monday, the FIA published their list of entrants for the 2010 season, with a footnote advising that an announcement would be made soon about Toyota's entry.

However, today's announcement will be welcome news to the Swiss-based team in limbo since the initial departure was announced.

A statement from the FIA said, "The FIA has written to inform BMW Sauber AG that their application for an entry in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship has been successful.

"Subject to their signing the Concorde Agreement, BMW Sauber will be awarded the 13th entry in the Championship, taking the place of the departing Toyota team.

"The FIA has worked closely with the Commercial Rights Holder and the teams involved over recent weeks and is grateful for their support in achieving the best outcome for the sport."

BMW Sauber has already lost driver Robert Kubica to Renault for the 2010 season, while Nick Heidfeld has yet to confirm a driver for next year, but has been linked with 2009 world champions Brawn GP, rebranded as Mercedes Grand Prix for 2010.

The FIA will update their entry list in due course, with Swiss newspaper Blick reporting that the team will be rebranded as Team Sauber F1 until a title sponsor is found. The 2010 car will be the C29, numbered 26 and 27, and powered by Ferrari engines, rekindling an old very close working relationship between 1997 and 2005.

It is also unclear on what financial terms Sauber has joined. Given that it lost all guaranteed rights by not signing the new agreement and likely wouldn't receive the financial reward generated from points won, it can be speculated that they have joined on the same terms as the four new incoming teams.

The statement from the FIA appears to confirm that with "working closely with the Commercial Rights Holder and the teams over recent weeks" most likely to be a nod to the financial arrangement for Sauber in return for their entry.

Without the millions of BMW, expect Sauber to reduce their 388-man workforce at Hinwil at least below 250, while they will need to quickly secure sponsorship to have a hope of mounting a serious challenge in 2011.

Sadly for Peter Sauber, a Brawn-like buy out success is unlikely to happen, neither will there be the kind of support Brawn enjoyed from the Virgin Group, who recently announced they were going into partnership with the Manor GP team and will race as Virgin Racing.

That said, Sauber are still in F1, with or without buckets of cash, and that itself is success enough. As well as the Ferrari relationship, it is also speculated that former sponsor Petronas will return in some capacity.

In their previous incarnation, Sauber launched the careers of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Felipe Massa, gave Nick Heidfeld a competitive drive from 2001, and in the same year launched the F1 career of a relatively unknown Finnish driver by the name of Kimi Räikkönen. With the team finishing that year fourth, in the constructors championship, was their best effort.

On the current driver front, experienced drivers Heidfeld, Jarno Trulli, and Heikki Kovalainen are all chasing 2010 drives, while former Toyota rookie Kamui Kobayashi is also available on the cheap, while 2008 and 2009 BMW Sauber test driver Christian Klien, and McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa are also in the market.

When Sauber and Jordan quit Formula 1 the reason was simple. Independent teams could not compete with the budgets of other teams. Sauber became BMW and whilst they retained the name with BMW Sauber the team was run by the German car manufacturer. They took a back seat, changed their colours and became almost unrecognisable as the team who gave Jacque Villenueve his final soiree.

The shift in financial responsibility with new regulations however has heralded the return of such teams to the race track.

Sauber may now also have the opportunity to return due to the sad demise of Toyota, the last Japanese outfit. Sauber have been given a lifeline to return. This lifeline was given to them by the FIA, who allowed them to be put on a waiting list. They took the position of the ‘fourteenth’ team who would be allowed permission to stake a claim to a 2010 drive if one of the instated thirteen teams dropped out.

Now that has happened with the money leaking Toyota team Peter Sauber and his army of workers have a challenge of making the 2010 grid. The departure of BMW from their garage means that they are free to return to their former identity.

Their new owners Qadbak Investments Ltd (who also own English football club Notts County) look to give Sauber a more influential role in the running of the team.

With the backing of an investment company willing to thrust money into the car and additionally with Ferrari looking to be the likely suppliers of engines, if they were to compete Sauber would become a credible addition to the other twenty-four cars that will take to the Bahraini Grand Prix next year.

The team may not have an illustrious history of victories, they have six third place finishes to their name, no pole positions and no race victories, but they would be a welcome fixture in an F1 paddock as well as a team capable of producing promising pace and a competitive edge.

Dont forget additionally that Sauber is of course the team where the likes of Nick Heidfeld, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa emerged, and so a team who can make considered and reliable driver choices.

Now it just remains to be seen as to when or if the team takes the bait, and when or if one of the lost independents will be returned to us in all their purple glory.

BMW have successfully sold the BMW Sauber team to a Swiss based company called Qadbak.

The sale comes after months of negotiations between BMW and Peter Sauber, who was desperate to save the team from extinction.

To help make the team more attractive to new buyers, BMW secured entry for the team in next year's championship, even though BMW had already confirmed that they would be leaving the sport.

The Sauber team, based in Hinwil Switzerland, boasts high tech facilities, including a state of the art wind tunnel. The team was sold for around $80 million.

Qadbak is an investment company, of which little is known due to the discreet nature of its wealthy "Middle Eastern and European based families". The company also purchased Notts County, an English football club, earlier this year.

News has also appeared in German publication Sport Bild that the team has secured a deal to use Ferrari customer engines next season.

Sauber have a good history with the Scuderia, having used Ferrari engines for many years, and was widely regarded as Ferrari's junior team, with current Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa begining their Formula One careers there.

The presence of Qadbak-Sauber team on the grid would be the third team to be using Ferrari engines, drawing the Italian team level with Mercedes, who supply Mclaren, Brawn and Force India with engines.

At the time of writing, although there is doubt about whether the Qadbak-Sauber team will be on the grid for 2010, BMW seem confident that the team will be present at the first race of the season.

As BMW Sauber's workforce reel in their parent company's shock withdrawal from Formula One, questions have inevitably been asked about whether the team can undergo the same transition that came upon Brawn GP after Honda pulled out of the sport.

Unencumbered by the controlling, unwelcome interference in Honda's F1 team from a Japanese boardroom—filled with suited businessmen with no experience or expertise in the top level of motorsport—Ross Brawn was able to transform his team from struggling backmarkers into dominant title hopefuls.

Throughout their short tenure in F1 Honda clearly had potential—building on the groundwork laid by British American Racing, they produced a race-winning car in their first season—but all too often that was squandered.

Their 2007 and 2008 efforts epitomised the proverbial committee-designed horse, a shining example of corporate mismanagement overshadowing the efforts of talented people, producing the inevitable woeful results.

But with the suits gone and the team free to go about its business, the leap in performance was instantaneous, the potential immediately fulfilled.

Such could be said to be the case with BMW Sauber. For years and years, Peter Sauber's team were midfield contenders, excellent facilities and a strong team hindered by a lack of budget and their seeming inability to produce a decent chassis.

When Williams refused BMW's help in designing their cars, the Bavarian manufacturer jumped ship, and found a willing collaborator in Sauber.

BMW's corporate attitude to Formula One was worlds away from that of Honda. While Honda's head office constantly intervened in the team's affairs, replacing key technical staff seemingly at the drop of the hat, BMW left their team very much to its own devices, in the capable hands of the long-time chief of their F1 programme, Mario Theissen.

Yet still the corporate overtones of BMW's effort shone through, with their emphasis on performance targets and clean-cut image, based on typical Swiss-German efficiency. From 2006 to 2008, they duly met all their targets, Robert Kubica delivering the team's maiden victory in the last Canadian Grand Prix.

Then, in 2009, a poor approach to the new regulations hit the team hard. An ineffective KERS unit, combined with a sudden lack of aerodynamic efficiency, saw the team plunge down the championship tables.

Kubica came within an ace of a podium in Melbourne and Nick Heidfeld delivered a somewhat fortuitous second place at Sepang, but the team has hardly troubled the scorers since. So, for performance reasons alone, the decision by the German company to quit F1 is not entirely surprising.

However, the prospects of BMW donating its lavish facilities and a generous stipend to some enterprising buyer, in the manner of Brawn GP, are slim.

Peter Sauber is the most obvious choice to take control of the team—he retains a small shareholding—but he has already said that he has no interest in taking on the job of team principal again.

In fact, perhaps the only reason Sauber still has a stake in the outfit is because of complex Swiss laws regarding the operation of foreign businesses on their turf, and it is because of this that he will likely hold onto his shares regardless of who buys the team.

Aside from Sauber, it has been suggested that one of the failed applicants to the 2010 F1 championship could buy out the team instead. However, with the priority of BMW—as it was for Honda during their face-saving operation of early 2009—being to save jobs at the team's Hinwil base, they are unlikely to consider any offer that comes from a team with an established HQ outside of Switzerland.

Furthermore, any replacement for BMW would be subject to the same entry criteria as any other potential entrant for 2010. This is due to a World Motor Sport Council ruling of 2002, after the "Phoenix F1" team rose, aptly, from the ashes of Prost's terminated operation and attempted to enter the Malaysian Grand Prix.

At that time, the council ruled that F1 entries cannot be bought and sold. Therefore it seems unlikely that entrants such as Prodrive, who were rejected an F1 berth the last time they applied, would be allowed to buy out BMW and race without the FIA re-considering their application, probably with the same outcome as the previous occasion.

On the face of it, therefore, the prospects for BMW Sauber look fairly bleak. But FOTA, who have committed themselves to saving the team, will not let it disappear without a fight.

Just as they lobbied various parties to buy Honda after the Japanese manufacturer cut and ran in 2008, they will be central to securing a deal for the future of this team as well.

Whatever happens to BMW, they will most likely start next season without their star driver. Robert Kubica has reportedly had a number of offers for 2010 seats, but will have one eye on Ferrari in the unlikely event that Felipe Massa is unable to return there.

In any case, he is unlikely to be willing to extend his contract with his current team—he will feel that last year's decision to switch their development focus to 2009 midseason potentially cost him the world championship.

The survival of BMW Sauber will depend on a number of things, including finding a buyer for the team and producing the funds necessary for them to keep racing. But even if they do keep going, it's unlikely to be the same fairy story as it was for Brawn.