Sauber not held back by old power unit - Kaltenborn

Sauber is confident of being competitive throughout the 2017 Formula 1 season despite using a year-old Ferrari power unit, according to team principal Monisha Kaltenborn.

For the final year of its supply deal with Ferrari, Sauber will run the 2016 specification of power unit, following the approach taken by Toro Rosso last year. While the junior Red Bull team started the year strongly, its performance tailed off as there was no development on the old power unit, but new designs continued to improve.

2017 sees the removal of the power unit token system and suggests Sauber will face a similar situation to Toro Rosso, putting added emphasis on the team's ability to score points when it is most competitive in the early rounds.

"We don't know what the others are going to do on the power train," Kaltenborn told RACER. "You have seen that the step between 2015 and 2016 was not that significant and I am sure that manufacturers are already working more on the reliability side considering that you are going down to four power units [from five in 2016], and that requires a lot of work too.

"I think if you look at how the performance development has been introduced, they are not that big chunks compared to 2014 and 2015. Of course it also depends on which engine supplier you have. We think we can cover a lot of that through aerodynamic development; that's why we chose that step, so that we focus more on these new rules and on the chassis.

"After that, of course, we have to be there right from the beginning but our plan is absolutely to have a development package that goes on right through the season and doesn't stop in the middle."

RACER understands Sauber has held preliminary discussions with Honda regarding its future power unit supply, while the arrival of Pascal Wehrlein as one of its race drivers for 2017 increases the possibility of a Mercedes deal.

"This year is our final year for Ferrari and we are assessing our options for the future," Kaltenborn added.