Sauber welcomes Fisi input
Peter Sauber has said that signing last year's Brazilian Grand Prix winner, the highly-rated Giancarlo Fisichella, will help propel his team up the grand prix grid as it bids to take on the manufacturer-backed teams in 2004
On the eve of today's Sauber C23 launch in Salzburg, Austria, team principal Sauber stated his reasoning for signing up Fisichella and Ferrari test driver Felipe Massa. The team finished fourth in the constructors' championship in 2001, and Sauber believes top quality drivers will help its cause
"Signing Giancarlo has made an old wish of mine come true," said Sauber. "For me he is one of the top six drivers in the sport. I am convinced he will help us move forward significantly on the Formula 1 grid."
Sauber also welcomed Massa back into the Sauber fold. He previously raced for the Swiss team in the 2002 season, before taking a year out to test for Ferrari.
"Felipe's skills, particularly his speed, was clearly evident during his first collaboration with our team," said Sauber. "The fact that he wasn't fully able to live up to expectations was mainly due to his age at that time. The added year of training with Ferrari will prove to be a big help to both himself and us as a team."
The Ferrari-powered (but Petronas-badged) C23 will be launched in Austria later today. Stay tuned to autosport.com for the first pictures of the new car at about 6pm GMT (7pm CET).
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Where Hulkenberg’s wrong-righting Audi F1 move leaves the driver market
Hulkenberg to join Sauber in 2025 ahead of Audi F1 entry
How the pursuit of marginal F1 gains caused Sauber's pitstop stumbles
Why do so many F1 stars live in Monaco?
Bagnaia used Jerez MotoGP practice “as a test” for “big” change
Newgarden “didn’t rehearse” emotional IndyCar press conference
Teams expect Sainz's F1 China qualifying incident to be cleared up
How studying Tost, Whiting and Binotto shaped F1's latest team boss
The F1 hero to zero dividing line that has never been so thin
How Stroll and Magnussen revealed the scale of F1’s racing and rules problems
Did F1's new sprint format work?
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments