Sauber F1 team's owners targeting fourth place in 2019
Sauber Formula 1 team chairman Pascal Picci says the Swiss outfit can target fourth place in the world championship next year

Sauber has made huge progress this season under team principal Frederic Vasseur, and has regularly made the points in recent races.
However it still lies only ninth in the constructors' table, on 16 points while Renault has 70 in fourth place.
However Picci, who also heads the Islero Investment company that owns Sauber, says that the 2018 car was the first to be produced entirely under the current ownership, and that the team will make further steps next year with new technical director Simone Resta.
"The [car] concept was fantastic, and you will be seeing that there will be improvements more and more frequently, regularly," Picci told Autosport.
"It is our ambition next year to be the fourth team.
"I know I exaggerate, Fred is telling me that I am! But if you don't have dreams, then you don't succeed very often.
"We are really at our own pace, which was our view from the start. We are totally committed to success, and we will do anything for this."

Picci (pictured above with Charles Leclerc) believes this year's progress should not be a surprise, not least because the team now has a contemporary Ferrari engine, having used year-old equipment - at the behest of then-team principal Monisha Kaltenborn - in 2017.
"People keep forgetting that last year we couldn't develop anything at all, because time was very short," he said.
"Of course, people made the wrong opinion with what they were seeing last year. It is a big difference.
"Was it a good decision to have the old engine last season? I am very clear today with my experience, it was a terrible mistake we did.
"All of a sudden we have a better performing engine. Haas is doing a much better job than us in terms of results, but we keep pushing to be there."
Picci insists the team will remain in its current ownership, despite suggestions that Ferrari and Alfa Romeo could become more deeply involved.
"The potential is absolutely huge, but we are an independent team with our own business model, and not one single share is controlled or influenced by our Italian friends," he added.
"We simply have a lot of convergent interests. We are committed to this team for the long term."

Previous article
Ferrari half a second quicker on straights in F1 qualifying - Mercedes
Next article
Max Verstappen took Hockenheim's Turn 1 flat out in F1 qualifying

About this article
Series | Formula 1 |
Teams | Sauber |
Author | Adam Cooper |
Sauber F1 team's owners targeting fourth place in 2019
Trending
Starting Grid for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
F1 Fast Facts: Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
How Verstappen and Hamilton’s Imola clash sets the tone for F1’s 2021 title fight
In Max Verstappen's Formula 1 career to date, he has been cast as the 'pretender', an acknowledged top-line performer without the car to regularly challenge Lewis Hamilton. But that no longer applies in 2021, and the start to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was the most telling signal yet of what we can expect from their duel this year
How “overwhelming” McLaren move has given Ricciardo a new verve
Daniel Ricciardo has found a new lease of life at McLaren – a move that’s been years in the making, as he explains to STUART CODLING…
The German legend who raced and beat Nuvolari
Ninety years ago, Rudolf Caracciola became the first non-Italian to win the epic Mille Miglia. We look at how he stacks up to the most famous pre-war ace Tazio Nuvolari, one of the drivers he beat on that day in 1931
How 2021's midfielders have taken lessons from F1's top teams
Formula 1’s latest Imola adventure turned into an expensive trip for many teams due to several crashes throughout the weekend. While balancing the books is an added factor in 2021 with the cost cap, a few midfield teams have cashed in early on development investments
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Driver Ratings
A frantic wet race at Imola produced plenty of excitement and drama as drivers scrabbled for grip. Amid the hatful of mistakes and incidents that ensued, who kept their noses cleanest?
How the Emilia Romagna GP result hinged on three crucial saves
Rain before the start of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix promised to spice up the action, and the race certainly delivered on that. Max Verstappen got the best launch to win from Lewis Hamilton, but both got away with mistakes that could have had serious consequences
The back-bedroom world-beater that began a new F1 era
The first in a line of world beaters was designed in a back bedroom and then constructed in a shed. STUART CODLING recalls the Tyrrell 001
The clues Hamilton’s F1 contract afterthought gives to his future
The Formula 1 world reacted with surprise when it learned Lewis Hamilton’s long-awaited new Mercedes deal guarantees his presence on the grid only until the end of 2021. Both parties claimed publicly they were happy with the arrangement but, asks MARK GALLAGHER, is there more to it than that?