Sauber has dealt with adversity before. When BMW pulled out at the end of the 2009 Formula 1 season, team founder Peter Sauber swept in to save his team. Then when the outfit was on the brink of financial collapse midway through last year, it was financial investment firm Longbow Finance that emerged as the saviour.
Longbow promised stability and that was the case until the abrupt departure of team principal Monisha Kaltenborn, part of Sauber since 2000, was announced in June. Shortly afterwards, Sauber was temporarily without an engine for next year after deciding to axe its deal with Honda - something Kaltenborn had put together.
The Swiss team's future looked uncertain once more. But after several weeks of negotiations, chairman Pascal Picci installed former Renault team boss Frederic Vasseur in the hot seat. He also agreed a deal with long-term partner Ferrari to continue using its engines - only next year, they will be current, rather than year-old, specification.