By alley - Jun 21, 2017, 7:22 PM ET

Kalternborn out but driver reports 'untrue' - Picci

Sauber chairman Pascal Picci has issued a pair of statements confirming that team principal Monisha Kaltenborn has left "due to diverging views of the future of the company," and slamming reports of preferential treatment among its drivers.

Kaltenborn's exit

was first reported earlier today

, although the confirmation – attributed to Sauber chairman Pascal Picci – did not appear until nearly 12 hours later.

"Longbow Finance SA regrets to announce that, by mutual consent and due to diverging views of the future of the company, Monisha Kaltenborn will leave her positions with the Sauber Group effective immediately," it read. "We thank her for many years of strong leadership, great passion for the Sauber F1 Team and wish her the very best for the future. Her successor will be announced shortly; in the meantime we wish the team the best of luck in Azerbaijan."

Moments earlier, the team had issued a separate statement, also attributed to Picci, condemning media reports that the fracture was due in part to Kaltenborn's desire to favor Marcus Ericsson over Pascal Wehrlein:

"The owners and board of Sauber Motorsport AG take strong exception to speculative and widespread media reports today that our race drivers have not been, and are not being, treated equally. This is not only patently untrue, it would be contrary to the team's absolute and longstanding commitment to fair competition. These reports, attributed to anonymous "sources, are highly detrimental to both Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein as well as to the management and all staff of the Sauber F1 Team."

Kaltenborn joined Sauber in the late 1990s to work in the team's legal department, and became a member of its management board in 2001. She was appointed CEO of Sauber AG in 2010, and became a part-owner of the Swiss team in mid-2012. Later that year, founder Peter Sauber stepped down from day-to-day management and handed control to Kalternborn, making her Formula 1's first female team principal.