Sauber plays down loss of design chief Matt Morris to McLaren

It emerged at Silverstone that Morris had informed Sauber of his intention to move to McLaren, where he will take up the role of engineering director.

Morris, who has yet to leave Sauber officially, has been replaced as chief designer by the promoted Eric Gandelin today.

"It's just part of the natural movement that happens in the paddock," Kaltenborn told AUTOSPORT.

"People decide to change teams and we have a replacement who I am very confident is the right person to take up this job and the challenges.

"In our business, you never have much warning [of such a move] and that is part of it.

"You have to be able to react very quickly and we have resolved it."

Kaltenborn expects the handover from Morris to Gandelin to be largely seamless.

Gandelin, who worked for the Prost team before moving to Sauber when the French squad folded, has been integral in the car concept.

"He has been our head of concept for quite a while and has been very closely linked with the design office.

"The timing is not bad for Eric to step in because he did the concept and he can carry that straight through to design now."

McLaren and Sauber have yet to formalise the timing of Morris's switch.

But Kaltenborn expects this problem to be solved soon, which should lead to Morris starting at McLaren this year.

"I think we will have it resolved very quickly," she said.