Sauber looks at Red Bull: "Wondering what decision Mateschitz will make now"

Peter Sauber is curious what Red Bull Racing will do now that Honda have decided to leave Formula 1 in 2022. The founder of the team of the same name from Sauber (which in Formula 1 today goes through life as Alfa Romeo Racing) hopes that the Austrian formation will come up with a good solution so that Max Verstappen can make things difficult for the Mercedes.

When asked by Speedweek.com whether Mercedes' dominance could be broken in the foreseeable future, Sauber replied honestly: "I don't know what would have to happen to do that. I assume that the Red Bull Racing car is on a par with Mercedes in terms of chassis. With the light engine, Max Verstappen, whom I hold in very high regard, can win by his own efforts, no question about it".

Exactly what the 77-year-old Swiss is trying to say is not entirely clear. In any case, Sauber knows that his colleague Dietrich Mateschitz, owner of the Red Bull brand, is facing a particularly difficult choice. "I am curious to see what decision Dietrich Mateschitz will now make, i.e. whether he will really try to take over and further develop the Honda engine. That would be a very big task. The engines today are technical marvels, which is far too little noticed by the public. The viewer is not interested in whether there are two generations in the rear that generate electricity", he says.

Engines

Bernie Ecclestone was succeeded by Liberty Media over three years ago. A lot has changed under the new owner of Formula 1, but Sauber would also have liked the engine regulations to have been tackled sooner. He understands, however, that this has not really succeeded to date. After all, there are many parties, each with their own interests.

"In my view, it has been missed making a big step in the right direction. But Liberty can't do anything itself on the engine side, it needs the consensus of the FIA and the engine manufacturers. And there are many different interests involved. The engine manufacturers now have a certain amount of power, so you are caught up in constraints. Thanks to his many years of experience, Formula 1 head of sport Ross Brawn would know how to do it, but he cannot assert himself alone," Sauber concludes.