Sauber hands team principal job to Monisha

[John S]

He'll beat self imposed 'no pit wall at 70', he's 69 this Saturday.    

Sauber's 20th anniversary in F1 comes around next spring, Peter's team is now the 4th oldest on the grid, - can you believe that?                

Monisha Kaltenborn has become the new team principal of Sauber, with its former chief Peter Sauber electing to step back from his day-to-day running of the outfit.
 
Sauber has always made it clear that he did not want to be running the team when he turned 70 next year, and has decided that now is the right time for the change to take place.
 
Kaltenborn becomes the new team principal with immediate effect, and Sauber will continue in his role as president of the Sauber Group's board of directors.
 
Speaking about the change, Sauber said: "We decided a long time ago that Monisha would take over from me, but we left the timing open.
 
"Now is a good time for both of us, so this is the right moment to pass on the baton. After all, there have been a number of races I’ve been unable to attend - most recently the Japanese Grand Prix, where the team put in an excellent performance.
 
"I'm in no doubt that Monisha has all the necessary skills to be an outstanding team principal, and I’m equally certain she will ensure that the values underpinning the company live on. That is very important to me."
 
Kaltenborn, who originally joined Sauber in 2000 as head of its legal department, has been CEO since January 2010 and owns a third of the company.

"We are the fourth-oldest team in F1. To build up a project like this and keep it alive in a difficult environment is a tremendous achievement. I have set my sights high and am committed to taking the team forward as Peter Sauber would want and leading it on to success."

By Jonathan Noble, Autosport.com, Today.

[Irisado]

Sauber's 20th anniversary in F1 comes around next spring, Peter's team is now the 4th oldest on the grid, - can you believe that?  

I can in many ways.  He has managed the team very well, handed over to BMW at the right time, as was able to save it at the eleventh hour too.  It's good to see that independent teams like Sauber are still around, as, at the end of the 2005 season, it looked as though the manufacturers had just about killed off the independents for good.            

As for Monisha, good on her, she deserves it.