A young Swiss is paying handsomely to test Sauber’s 2011 car next month.
The Hinwil based team announced last week that 22-year-old Fabio Leimer will get a day at the wheel of the Ferrari-powered C30 during mid November’s Abu Dhabi young driver test.

“We are pleased we can offer Fabio this opportunity,” said team boss Monisha Kaltenborn.

But according to the Swiss newspaper Blick, Sauber might also be pleased to be banking hundreds of thousands of euros.

GP2 driver Leimer was at Sauber’s Swiss factory on Monday for a seat fitting.

There, he confirmed: “Yes, we have had to pay for this test. That’s just the way it is in formula one, but first you have to be in the position to do so.”

Leimer would not reveal how much the Sauber ride is costing, but Blick said Toro Rosso is selling its Abu Dhabi test day – probably to Frenchman Charles Pic – for EUR 200,000.

“So with Sauber, the amount is probably in the hundreds of thousands,” said reporter Stefan Meier.

While Sauber hopes Sergio Perez will return to his C30 this weekend, the Swiss team has revealed it is more than happy with the occupant of the sister cockpit.
Sauber plucked Japanese Kamui Kobayashi from the ashes of Toyota’s F1 withdrawal at the end of 2009, following some exciting early performances for the then rookie.

He has carried over his daring style to Sauber and now has a secure place at the team, managing director Monisha Kaltenborn told Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo.

“We are very happy,” she said.

“Kamui, in his second year of formula one, is already a leader. His exciting style of driving is great for the team and for the fans as well,” added Kaltenborn.

Esteban Gutierrez sounded upset on Friday after missing the opportunity to make his formula one race debut.

The Mexican teen was signed by Sauber to be the Swiss team’s official test and reserve driver at all races in 2011.

But the reigning GP3 champion, who now races in the F1 support category GP2, was not in Canada on Friday when his countryman Sergio Perez had to withdraw from the event due to illness.

Instead, Sauber turned to in its 2010 driver Pedro de la Rosa after hurried negotiations with McLaren, who now employ the veteran Spaniard as its reserve driver.

Despite Perez’s hospitalisation, concussion and bruised thigh in Monaco, and the fact FIA doctors only cleared him to race on Thursday, Sauber was caught so unprepared that de la Rosa was wearing McLaren overalls when he took to the C30 in afternoon practice at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

And Gutierrez, apparently in his native Mexico, wrote on Twitter that Sauber displayed a “lack of transparency” in informing its official reserve of the situation.

“I learned from Twitter,” he said on the social networking website.

“It’s a shame to hear about Montreal, I hope ‘Checo’ (Perez) recovers soon,” added Gutierrez in Spanish.

“I never received any instructions to prevent this situation. I was ready,” he said.

Sauber on Friday was uncertain Sergio Perez will be back in the C30 for next weekend’s Canadian grand prix.
The Mexican rookie spent two days in hospital but has now returned home after his big crash during qualifying in Monaco.

On Friday, his Swiss team Sauber explained that – because the 21-year-old was concussed – he will have to “pass the usual medical test with the FIA doctors” before being cleared to race in Montreal.

“I feel very good and fit. Of course I want to race in Montreal, but I also know the final decision is up to the FIA doctors,” he said.

Perez revealed he had to call off his scheduled session in the Ferrari simulator this week due to his crash.

“Anyway, it is not the first unknown circuit for me and I have never had difficulties adapting,” he said. “I found it very hard to be just a TV spectator for the race in Monaco, and can’t wait to get into the car again.”

Team technical director James Key sounded confident the FIA doctors will give Perez the green light.

“When I spoke to him he sounded very well and was looking forward to getting back to work. We are looking forward to having him back in the car,” he said on Friday.

Sauber is setting its sights on loftier ambitions for 2011.
The Swiss team is currently a credible sixth in the constructors’ standings, behind Mercedes and Renault and leading grandees Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.

“We keep our feet on the ground,” managing director Monisha Kaltenborn told the Swiss newspaper Blick when asked if more than sixth is the target.

The newspaper, however, said it has learned Sauber’s ‘secret plan’ for the rest of the 2011 season — all available resources, and perhaps even some new recruitments, will be pointed towards the development of the C30.

“So full steam ahead,” wrote veteran reporter Roger Benoit.

Kamui Kobayashi will be at the wheel when Sauber’s 2011 car makes its track debut on the day before group testing begins at Valencia.

Like Renault, the Swiss team has booked the Ricardo Tormo circuit to unveil its new single seater next Monday.

Team owner and boss Peter Sauber told the Swiss newspaper Blick that it will be Kobayashi at the wheel when the Ferrari-powered C30 does its maiden laps for promotional filming purposes in the afternoon.

“I am looking forward to the moment when it goes out of the box,” admitted the 67-year-old. “Even after 18 years in formula one, the anticipation is still just as great as it was in 1993 with the C12.”

Sauber’s 2011 car will be unveiled at Valencia on January 31; the day before winter testing begins.

The Swiss team announced on Friday that the Ferrari-powered C30 will be launched at Valencia’s permanent Ricardo Tormo circuit, the scene of the first group test of the 2011 pre-season.

It is likely many teams will also be testing their new cars at the Spanish venue.

“The new car is on schedule,” a spokesman for the Faenza based Toro Rosso team told f1today.nl. “We are planning to have it for the first test in Valencia.”

And after Lotus said it will begin 2011 without KERS, it seems likely that Toro Rosso’s STR6 will be fitted with the energy recovery technology.

The Faenza based team’s Swiss driver Sebastien Buemi was in the simulator this week to prepare for 2011.

“There will be quite a few new tasks in the cockpit next year, with the re-introduction of KERS and the use of an adjustable rear wing,” he said.

“I am not going to tell you anything (more) about the STR6, let’s just say it definitely looks impressive!” added Buemi.

Sergio Perez has denied his major sponsor Telmex is positioning to buy control of the Sauber team.

The Mexican telcom will have significant signage on next year’s C30, and its figurehead Carlos Slim – the richest man in the world – has been seen at several grands prix recently.

But boss Peter Sauber earlier this month denied he is considering selling the Hinwil based team, and Slim said the deal is a “commercial alliance” rather than a precursor to a greater involvement.

But when told that the rumours about Telmex buying Sauber still exist, rookie driver Perez said: “No, that’s not true.

“Telmex is entering as a sponsor and nothing more,” he is quoted by the AS newspaper.

The rumours are retaining their strength because Perez will be joined at the team by another Mexican, the test driver Esteban Gutierrez.

“Esteban and I are here because Sauber decided to sign us,” Perez, 20, insisted.

He also backed Fernando Alonso to win the 2010 world championship.

“He doesn’t have as good a car as the Red Bull drivers, but he is the best driver,” said Perez.

Peter Sauber has admitted his ideal driver constellation would be a promising young rookie alongside a steadier hand.

Presently, the Swiss team’s lineup is fiery Japanese newcomer Kamui Kobayashi next to the dependable veteran of 169 grands prix Nick Heidfeld.

But the latter German is currently searching for a job for 2011, after Sauber signed the Telmex-sponsored Mexican GP2 driver Sergio Perez.

“We think he has great potential and is very fast,” Sauber said at his team’s Hinwil headquarters this week, where the 20-year-old Perez was having his first seat fitting.

“But of course there are no guarantees,” admitted the 67-year-old.

According to the Swiss daily Blick, Sauber was asked whether sitting two young newcomers in next year’s C30s is too great a risk for the team still recovering from the loss of BMW ownership.

“It would be better to have an experienced driver beside a younger one,” he admitted, “but Kobayashi has matured and next year can take over the role of team leader.”

Sauber’s new major sponsor insists it has not bought partial control of the Swiss formula one team.

Telmex, headed by the world’s richest man Carlos Slim, will have significant signage on next year’s C30 car, as well as the Mexican rookie Sergio Perez at the wheel.

But team boss Peter Sauber this week denied he is considering selling the team to Telmex, and Slim’s son Carlos Slim Domit – the chairman of the Mexico City-based company – also insists the deal is for sponsorship only.

Speculation about Telmex’s new influence was triggered by suggestions Sauber would have preferred to pair Kamui Kobayashi with Nick Heidfeld next year.

“We are only an ally,” Slim is quoted by Mexican media.  “The structure and decisions of the team is their business.”

“This is a commercial alliance,” he added.

Slim Domit also denied suggestions the signing of Perez was a condition of Telmex’s Sauber sponsorship.

He said the Hinwil based team had signed the contract with Perez before Telmex decided to sponsor Sauber.

Sauber’s 2011 test and reserve driver Esteban Gutierrez, the first GP3 champion, is also Mexican and sponsored by Telmex.

Jun.16 (GMM)  Sauber must now turn its attention to designing a much better car for next season.

That was the assessment of team owner and boss Peter Sauber in the wake of last weekend’s Canadian grand prix.

After an uncompetitive and unreliable start to the post-BMW period this year, there had been signs of a recovery until Montreal, where the C29 was faster only than the three new teams.

“We are only able to tinker with this car,” Sauber, 66, is quoted as saying by the veteran Blick correspondent Roger Benoit.

“It was an unpleasant parting gift from BMW and Willy Rampf,” he added.  “All our hopes rest now with the C30 for next year.”

Pedro de la Rosa has already confirmed he is on the market for a job for 2011, while the Japanese rookie Kamui Kobayashi has also been unconvincing.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport gave the 23-year-old a “1 out of 10″ for the Canada weekend, after almost being outqualified by a Lotus and then crashing on the first lap.

“Kamui came into my office and apologised immediately,” Sauber revealed.  “Okay, that is the price one pays if one goes to the line with a rookie.”