F1: Sauber pays salaries but problems continue

The Sauber Formula 1 team has paid its April staff salaries, albeit several weeks late, but its cashflow problems continue.

The Swiss team has not paid staff on time for three successive months but sourced the funds to ensure all staff were paid for April by the end of last week. However, it is believed there will also be a delay in paying the May salaries, which are due in a few days.

Team boss Monisha Kaltenborn has been holding talks with prospective new sponsors for months but has been unable to lock down any deals. She told Autosport earlier this month that she was confident of a deal materializing that would help this season.

Currently, the team has funding from three streams: Marcus Ericsson's Swedish backers, Felipe Nasr's Brazilian backers and the FOM revenues. It is believed the next tranche of money from Brazil will be paid to the team next month as scheduled.

The cashflow problems have meant Sauber has been unable to add any updates to its current car, which led to its decision not take part in last week's test at Barcelona. There are a list of updates ready to go but new funds are required to put them into production and get them on the car.

Originally on Autosport.com