The announcement was made by the team's very owner Peter Sauber, who admitted that there are a lot of drivers lined up for a race seat with the Swiss outfit. Just as all the newly entrants, Sauber admitted that he'd go for an experienced vs rookie driver lineup, now that he has two racing seats up for grabs for next season.
Obviously, former employee Nick Heidfeld has been named one of the favorites for securing one of those seats, but Giancarlo Fisichella was recently thrown into the mix also. In addition, several drivers that are yet to secure their future in the series – Heikki Kovalainen, Jarno Trulli, Pedro de la Rosa, Christian Klien, Anthony Davidson and Kamui Kobayashi – are also pushing for a lifesaving deal in the eleventh hour.
“In the past weeks many drivers have asked about us, but we couldn't really negotiate when we didn't have an entry. Now it's different,” Sauber was quoted as saying to German news agency SID.
“I wouldn't like to give any names, except to say that I assume we will have an experienced driver and a driver of the new generation. We have often had that mixture in the past and it worked well,” added the 66-year old Swiss.
As far as sponsors are concerned, some of the companies that were contracted with BMW last year have already announced their desire to stay in the series as Sauber's partners, as confirmed by the very Swiss owner of the team. That includes Petronas, the Malaysian oil company that reiterated their commitment to Peter Sauber's team, despite the fact that Lotus – their fellow countrymen – were also interested in a partnership for their F1 operations.
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