Peter Sauber has played down claims his Swiss formula one could follow Williams’ lead by floating shares on the stock market.
Williams, which like Sauber is a fully independent team, announced recently that a floatation is the “best way to secure” its future.

It is believed that 28 per cent of the team will be issued on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange later this month, with Sir Frank Williams to remain in charge as the majority shareholder.

Hinwil based Sauber has also been working to re-establish its footing for the future, after former owner BMW’s withdrawal and the failed sale to Qadbak.

Peter Sauber has admitted he does not want to still be on the pitwall when he turns 70 in a few years, but on Friday he seemed to rule out following Williams into the stock market.

“I honestly have to say that I don’t understand the reasons behind going public. That’s all I have to say,” he told F1′s official website.

It might be said that Sauber has ruled out selling shares to the public because new sponsor Telmex, headed by billionaire Carlos Slim, might be looking to take over the team.

But Peter Sauber insisted: “I don’t think so. It was never the plan that Carlos Slim would get directly involved with the team.

“And to be honest I feel pretty good knowing that 100 per cent of the team is with me again,” he added.

2010 rookie Nico Hulkenberg’s race seat at Williams is in doubt for next season, according to Italian reports.

The Autosprint magazine claims the British independent team is set to lose four sponsors at once, including RBS and Philips.

At the same time, it is rumoured that German Hulkenberg’s famous manager Willi Weber is asking Sir Frank Williams for a pay-rise for his 23-year-old charge.

The first name mentioned as a potential new teammate for Rubens Barrichello is Pastor Maldonado, who is set to succeed Hulkenberg as the new GP2 champion.

25-year-old Venezuelan Maldonado, backed by state oil company PDVSA, had hoped to go to Sauber, who have instead signed the Telmex-sponsored Sergio Perez.

Williams’ third co-owner Toto Wolff said last weekend that he is not expecting a “lightening fast decision” about the team’s 2011 drivers.

“I feel quite comfortable about our (current) driver lineup,” he told Kleine Zeitung newspaper.

A decision about Martin Whitmarsh’s successor as FOTA chairman has not yet been taken, the McLaren team boss has insisted.

At Spa-Francorchamps last weekend, it was reported that Briton Whitmarsh will be replaced as head of the teams’ organisation by Williams’ Adam Parr.

The Italian report also said Toro Rosso’s Franz Tost will succeed Whitmarsh’s current deputy Stefano Domenicali.

But a report in the Portuguese language Globe Esporte insists that Whitmarsh’s tenure will not end until the end of the year.

However, Globo said it is likely that the next FOTA chairman will represent an independent team, meaning that Williams’ Parr is a likely candidate.

“My mandate runs until the end of the year,” Whitmarsh is quoted as saying.

“A vote is likely to happen between November and December,” he added.

Williams wants to remain an independent formula one team, new chairman Adam Parr has insisted.

Now into a sixth consecutive season without a win, and thirteen seasons on since Jacques Villeneuve’s title, the famous British outfit might be ruing life in the paddock.

But Parr says Williams is “not actively looking” for a partner.  “We are independent and we enjoy that independence,” he is quoted as saying by the Motorsport Aktuell website.

Lotus boss and owner Tony Fernandes, whose AirAsia brand sponsors both his own team as well as Williams, admitted last weekend that he did have talks “about buying into Williams but it never worked out”.

After the works relationship with BMW ended in 2005, Parr admits that the days with carmaker backing – also including Williams’ past tie-ups with Honda and Renault – were good for performance.

Sir Frank Williams admitted at Silverstone that his team’s lack of results recently is “embarrassing”, and rumours suggest the feelers are out for a future partnership with Volkswagen.

“In the long term, the best model for an independent team is to form a partnership with an automotive manufacturer who supply the engines and a bit of sponsorship and we go racing,” said Parr.

“I think that is ultimately what we want again one day,” he added.

Force India has become the latest team to commit to using KERS in 2011.

When the energy-recovery systems were first permitted by the technical regulations last year, the Silverstone based team opted not to use the technology.

But for 2011, the FOTA gentleman’s ban on the systems will lapse, and the efficiency of KERS will improve due to the increase in the minimum car/driver weight by 20kg.

Moreover, the interaction of KERS with the car’s weight distribution will also be negated in 2011, due to the introduction of a mandatory 46:54 ratio.

“There is no other option than to go with KERS,” Force India’s chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

However, Auto Motor und Sport said it is not clear if independent teams Sauber and Toro Rosso will use KERS next year, adding that all three new teams will probably not race the systems.

Teams not developing their own KERS systems for 2011 will be able to buy a supply for 1 million euros, while a 5 million euro per team development cap applies.

Although the German carmaker pulled out of the sport at the end of last year, Peter Sauber’s once-again independent team retained the official title BMW Sauber F1.

It is believed the reason was so that the commercial rewards due from Sauber’s participation in the 2009 world championship, resulting in sixth place in the title, were not jeopardised.

However, the situation means the C29 has been known officially and awkwardly as the BMW Sauber-Ferrari, due to the use of a Ferrari customer engine.

But although initially using clearly visible signage, the team has increasingly moved away from even mentioning BMW, now running a red ‘S’ logo and Sauber Motorsport branding.

According to Germany’s motorsport-total.com, the F1 Commission met on Monday ahead of a Geneva meeting of the World Motor Sport Council on Wednesday.

Sauber reportedly lodged a request with F1 Commission members – among them key stakeholders including FOM, fellow teams, promoters and sponsors – for a name change.

The next step is the approval of F1′s governing body.

(GMM)