Aug.25 (GMM) Frederic Vasseur has played down claims Sauber could join Haas in becoming another Ferrari ‘B’ team.
It has emerged that Sauber will use Ferrari’s fully up-to-date 2018 engine next year, and possibly run one or both of the Italian team’s junior drivers Antonio Giovinazzi and Charles Leclerc.
“I knew you would ask me about the drivers,” new Sauber boss Vasseur laughed at Spa.
“We will only discuss the situation and make a decision in the next few weeks.”
There are rumours Sauber could even become a fully-fledged Ferrari ‘junior team’, and Vasseur said: “It is good that we will be supported by one of the top teams, and not only technically.
“But honestly no. Haas has its own philosophy and we have ours,” added the Frenchman, when asked if the Ferrari-Haas deal could be replicated.
“We want to develop our own project with Ferrari, with the engine and gearbox at the heart but we can expand the number of parts we receive from Maranello.
“At Sauber we already have very good infrastructure and perhaps Haas does not. We have one of the best wind tunnels in formula one, for example.
“Perhaps at some point we will find a better option to collaborate, but we will not become a ‘B team’ or customer team,” Vasseur insisted.