Monisha Kaltenborn admitted 2016 was not a normal season for her Sauber F1 Team, who struggled both on and off track, only salvaging tenth place in the Constructors’ Championship in the penultimate race of the season.
Until Felipe Nasr’s ninth place finish in the Brazilian Grand Prix, Sauber had looked on course to have their second pointless season in three years and finish behind the Manor Racing MRT squad in the championship.
Team Principal Kaltenborn, who saw the team improve in the second half of the season following a much needed investment from Longbow Finance in July, believes that the true potential of the Swiss team was not realised in 2016, and people should not be quick to judge based on their season.
“Where we are coming from, this is not our normal way,” said Kaltenborn to Racer.com. “For us it was anything but a normal season. If we were in our usual way of developing, we are not where we would be. Of course while other teams do a great job, I think you also have to consider that we did not quite have what we normally would have.
“It was way after the middle of the season that our car was finally the kind of car that we would have liked to have started the season with. Imagine what a delay there was there, but that was the situation and you have to deal with. You need a bit of luck as well, on top of all the hard work – which we had but which [Manor] also had for that matter with their point, so that’s part of the game.”
