Jul.9 (GMM) Sauber could be on the road to recovery, after a long financial crisis saw the 23-year-old Swiss team come close to collapse.
But boss and co-owner Monisha Kaltenborn is now hinting the announcement of a rescue deal is imminent.
The evidence of that may have been on display at Silverstone on Friday.
Firstly, updated Ferrari power units were in the Hinwil-built cars, with Kaltenborn confirming that Sauber will still use Italian-made engines in 2017.
“It’s good to see that the engine upgrade is a good step,” Brazilian Felipe Nasr told UOL. “It was a good day.”
According to the Swiss newspaper Blick, that good day was overseen at Sauber by mysterious Arab guests, as correspondent Roger Benoit wondered if they were part of the rumoured buyout deal.
Marcus Ericsson’s Swedish backers have also been linked with the deal, but the driver himself on Friday was just happy to finally try a car upgrade in 2017.
“It’s working well, and that’s positive,” he said, referring to the visibly-changed rear wing design.