Red Bull exit will not hurt Sauber

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz has long held an ambition to become a team owner and bought shares in the Sauber team during the 1990s. But Mateschitz sold them back to Peter Sauber when it became clear that the Swiss team owner was not prepared to hand over the reins of his team.

Merchant bank Credit Suisse subsequently bought in to Sauber and Mateschitz continued to sponsor the team through Red Bull, while also forging connections with Arrows [now defunct] and Jaguar when Christian Klien joined the team in 2004. Mateschitz entered into negotiations to buy Jaguar earlier in this year but was rebuffed, only to become favourite again when Ford put it up for sale in September.

"The fact that the cooperation with Red Bull will not be continued fills me with exceptional regret," said Sauber. "Yet I'm neither surprised nor unprepared since we've known about Dietrich Mateschitz's dream of realising his own Formula 1 team for years.

"Mateschitz has always communicated this to me in an honest and upfront manner."

"I would like to thank Dietrich Mateschitz for the outstanding ten-year cooperation that has benefited both sides and wish him the best of luck for his new team."

Sauber claims that Red Bull's exit will have not make a difference to his team's 2005 campaign and is taking steps to fill the gap left behind by the energy drinks company.

"For Sauber, the end of the partnership with Red Bull will not have any short-term effects," he said. "Concerning the situation over the long run, we will have enough time to influence it. With Petronas and Credit Suisse at its side, Sauber has two strong and reliable partners, added to which is the support from MTS, a medium-sized sponsor, and roughly 40 smaller partners and sponsors. This puts the company on a solid foundation.

"The 2004 season has shown that the team's performance curve has been clearly pointing upwards, a fact that is also attributable to the new wind tunnel. This has made Sauber Petronas very attractive and thus interesting for potential partners. We are in contact with several companies."