Title sponsor is a 'huge step' for Sauber - Vasseur

Sauber boss Frederic Vasseur has insisted that the acquisition of a title sponsor in the form of Alfa Romeo is a 'huge step' for the team in their attempts to move up the constructor rankings in the 2018 season, along with the use of up-to-date Ferrari parts.

Last season, Sauber were using year-old parts which contributed to their lack of success on the track. However, despite speculation they would be taking on Honda engines for 2018, Vasseur struck a deal with Ferrari to use the same parts as their works team which is seen as a huge improvement.

Vasseur admits that, although his team is behind others in terms of their technical evolution, taking on Alfa Romeo as a title sponsor is a huge step.

"It's not extra work on the technical side because we were already flat-out," he told RACER.

"The situation is that we changed from Honda to the Ferrari engine and the Alfa Romeo deal quite late because it was the end of July, so for sure we delayed the design a little bit, but it was on purpose.

"On the technical side for sure we are a little bit late and for the company and the marketing and communications team it was also tricky. To have a title sponsor for the team is a good move, but also a huge step and we have to reinforce every single department and recruit a lot and so on. But for sure it was an exciting time as well as a tricky one.

"It's much better to have this problem than to have to deal with the guys in the factory having nothing to do! For sure when we decided to come back to the Ferrari engine the design of the car with the Honda engine was already started.

"That meant a small delay when we had to redesign the back of the car to change the approach a little bit, but that's life. It's not a big deal, it's more of a rush for the team but now we have a long-term deal and it's not a problem if for a couple of weeks at the beginning it is an issue, we have to be focused on the next years and not on the last weeks."