Sauber signed 6 race drivers for two 2015 race seats

[John S]

Not just the 4 we know but Bianchi and Gutierrez too.         

Colin Kolles says Jules Bianchi signed for Sauber just hours before his Suzuka crash.         

Now call me old fashioned but how the hell did Monisha expect this crazy multi driver setup to work out without a court or other authorities being involved ??? 

Should think Sauber can now make serious money from seminars advising timeshare bandits and other charlatans.   

http://www.grandprix247.com/2015/04/14/bianchi-signed-sauber-contract-at-suzuka-reveals-kolles/

[F1fanaticBD]

You cannot blame the head of the team for being frantic in the time of despair, and even though it may sound odd, but if a team goes through this sort of financial manouvering and came up with a car this good, I wouldn't mind at all as long as it is "absolutely calculated ". Also I am not surprised to learn about Bianchi at all, and it makes an absolute sense. If Ferrari had the plans to make him wear color in 2017, where else they could fit him in other than Sauber. And perhaps Guti's deal also gave them a breath of air, to negotiate it with Ferrari.

All in all not bad at all Monisha, as long you can keep those blue cars fast and racing like it is doing.

[Scott]

Good for her...great idea to have a plan B and if she had a plan C, even better.  Don't believe everything you read, I seriously doubt the teams lawyers drew up 6 contracts for her, dated and waiting for signatures without there being a few notes about there being conflicts.  I never heard VDG's issue being more than a 'promise', along with Sutil as well.  For those two it was probably somewhere in last year's contracts and well, those were last year.  When Bianchi was injured, she certainly took that time to look for Nasr and Ericsson.  No explanation for Gutierrez, but whatever. 

The Engineering department seems to have found something this year, even if the Human Resources department still has some issues.

I can tell you from experience that the Swiss people are generally the best rule followers I have ever come across (bankers aside).  If somebody was playing contract shell games, it was certainly a foreigner...probably a Brit 

[Alianora La Canta]

Well, we know there were at least 3 supposedly rock-steady contracts out there for 2 race drives, because multiple courts have proven it. van der Garde's was not "a promise" - 3 separate courts demonstrated it was a valid contract, and arguably more valid than those of the drivers currently in the cars.

I'm not surprised the engineering department found something, with all that extra money flowing in 2014 from people that were led to expect a drive that never materialised.

It doesn't matter how frantic a team boss, they should never take a plan that was inevitably going to cost more money than doing the right thing would have been. I get the distinct impression that we should enjoy Sauber while we can because by 2016 it will have ceased to exist in a hail of lawsuits.

I'm kind of glad that Jules didn't get a Sauber in the end... ...though the reason for his neither getting a Sauber nor having the compensation he would have got had events taken their natural conclusion makes me feel sick.

[Scott]

I'm considerably more optimistic about Sauber in 2016 and beyond.