By Jamie Makin
December 17 2004

The 2005 season has not even begun yet but winds of change are already blowing for the 2006 season. The word on the streets of Maranello is that Ferrari has made the decision to end their long-standing partnership with SAUBER. The Swiss outfit has used PETRONAS-badged Ferrari engines since 1997 and been a very satisfied customer. Their current two-year contract comes to an end in December 2005 and Ferrari is rumoured to be negotiating a deal to instead supply engines to the new Russian Midland F1 team. Although Ferrari has supplied two teams with engines in the past they are unlikely to do so again in the future.

The Ferrari engines have been very reliable for SAUBER but the current arrangement will not get SAUBER to the front of the grid. As the team ramps up its operations with their new wind tunnel, supercomputer, Michelin tyre deal and former world champ Jacques Villeneuve behind the wheel it is clear they are aiming for the top. The next logical step would a new engine deal and the team must begin thinking about this soon.

"I will begin to evaluate all potential options, which naturally include Ferrari, at the beginning of the next season," team principal Peter Sauber told f1racing.net. Even if a new Ferrari deal is unlikely there are still plenty of possibilities to pursue.

The first would simply be to negotiate a deal with an existing engine supplier. PETRONAS reportedly pays upwards of USD 30 million for SAUBER's engines. Other engine makers such as Cosworth are looking at supplying engines in the neighborhood of USD 10 million which would free up a substantial amount of money for SAUBER to use in other areas of development. If SAUBER were to get engines from another works team such as Mercedes or Honda though, they would likely run into the same situation they face now with Ferrari and be relegated to midfield at best.

A better option would be for SAUBER to partner with a manufacturer not currently involved in F1. It has often been suggested that VW/Audi may enter F1 via SAUBER but the German auto maker has shown less interest in F1 than they did a few years back. It should be noted though that Malaysian car maker Proton, who maintains some ties with PETRONAS, has recently partnered with the VW/Audi group to manufacture road car engines. It is not inconceivable that the deal could find its way back to the SAUBER PETRONAS team. There are not many other options for new manufacturers though, with General Motors and Hyundai being the only large groups not somehow linked with the sport at present.

A works engine deal would be ideal for SAUBER as it would be a large financial boost and they would also receive the top of the line engines. They would no longer be looked upon as a "B Team" of sorts and would be free to pursue their ambitions to move up the grid. Peter Sauber has often been leery of such a partnership though, having previously been deserted by Mercedes in 1994 and Ford in 1996.

This leads to a final, albeit unconventional option which would see SAUBER design and build their own engines. The idea has started to gain momentum in recent days and would allow the Swiss team to maintain a true independent status. The resources of SPE could be tapped for this venture as the group has already successfully designed the aforementioned Proton road car engines as well as the engines for the 2001 Foggy Petronas World Superbike team. This would require a much larger budget than purchasing existing engines but the more economical 2006 engine formula could make it attainable. The new 2.4L V8 engines will likely become reality now that manufacturers BMW, Mercedes and Honda have dropped their opposition to the it.

Incidentally, the idea of PETRONAS designing engines for SAUBER is not a new one. They originally planned to do so for 1999 but recession in Asia put an end to it and PETRONAS continued to simply rebadge Ferrari engines for the team. The economy has been gaining strength recently which could once again open the door to this possibility.

Teams typically begin the design work on next season's car in the spring with the engine being an integral part of the early design concepts. Therefore we can expect to hear a lot more speculation on SAUBER's engine situation in the coming months as a decision on 2006 must be made early in 2005.

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