To no one’s great surprise Sauber has announced that Sergio Perez will partner Kamui Kobayashi next year, signalling the start of what it calls a ‘partnership’ with Mexican telecommunications giant Telmex.
Perez, who was beaten to the GP2 title by Pastor Maldonado, becomes the first Mexican in F1 since Hector Rebaque’s stint with the Brabham team in the early eighties.
It’s not clear yet whether that relationship will develop into a shareholding or ownership, but clearly getting the backing of the world’s richest man – Carlos Slim – is something of a coup for Peter Sauber. Having said that the company has been very careful with its expenditure on Perez and Esteban Gutierrez as they have worked their way through the ranks, and both youngsters have had to get the job done to retain their support.
In a team statement Perez said: “Formula One is the dream of every young racing driver. And now this dream is about to come true for me. Although I’m very much aware that this is also a big challenge and responsibility, I’m happy to accept that and am proud to be representing my country in the highest category of motor racing. I would like to thank Peter Sauber for the faith he’s shown in me and I’ll do everything I can to make the most of this wonderful opportunity.”
Peter Sauber added: “Sergio has been on a continuous upward curve over the past few years. He demonstrated his fighting spirit in races over the course of last season and proved that he’s ready to take the step up into Formula One. I look forward to working with him and am in no doubt that, in Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi, we will have a strong driver pairing.
“Telmex has been involved in motor sport for a number of years already and supports drivers in various race series. Now they are making the key step up into the top category of motor racing, and we are happy and proud that they are taking this step with us. Telmex is an outstanding company and represents a strong partner for our team. We are looking forward to a fruitful partnership.”
Regarding the new relationship, Carlos Slim Domit said: “Sauber has been not only a very successful racing team but also a strong talent developer of some of the most recognized names in racing since their early stages as well as one of the most respected people in the sport. Their decision of having Sergio with them is very significant on his career to become a top driver representing Mexico. For Telmex and our racing project Escuderia Telmex it’s a great step forward, and we feel very proud to be able to consolidate these years of work for having a Mexican driver in F1 with Sauber Motorsport.”
Adam Cooper F1 
Can we take it for granted that Kobayashi will be out for 2012 with Gutierrez replacing him?
It depends. On a lot of things. Slim’s talk of “Escuderia Telmex” implies Telmex want a full stable, and are maybe buying into Sauber with a view to picking it up entirely once Peter Sauber retires. But, as Super Aguri proved, just because two drivers come from the same country as you do, it doesn’t mean they’re the best drivers for your team. If Kobayashi continues to impress (and maybe loses a bit of his recklessness – though I do love Martin Brundle’s description of him as being “if it’s got wheels and it’s in front, he tries to pass it”), then I see no reason why he shouldn’t stay with the team other than him being snapped up by someone else. Ferrari in particular are very good at hammering disicpline into someone; remember when the number onf Felipe Massa’s car used to be a pretty good indicator of how many laps he’d make it before he spun out?
Kobayashi will probably only leave the team if he is devastatingly good or devastatingly bad.
“escuderia telmex” is a project for sponsoring mexican drivers in various series (nascar, grandam, amls, gp2, gp3, and now f1), for now they are only investors and sponsors but no owners. http://www.escuderiatelmex.com/index.php?lang=en
Yes, that’s kind of my point: they’re sponsors and partners, but there’s a possibility of a future where they own a team.
I guess this means good news for the USGP?
I’m curious as to the nature and extent of the Telmex package. Will the team feature prominent branding and a bright blue livery (I’ve missed light blue cars ever since Renault got all morally-responsible and dropped Mild Seven’s branding), or will it just be the odd placement of a logo here and there with the team needing someone else to fill in those empty voids on the sides of the car?
Good news for Sauber team to secure its future, but so sad for me a japanese few Japanese companies would come back to F1 as even a team sponsor after Lehman shock having triggered their massive leave from the sport.
Though Toyota has been supporting Kamui via TDP footing the bills of his management group and hotel charges and so on as just a personal sponsor of him, it is too small to be compared with sponsorship rumours in the pre-season – WHERE IS Panasonic and KDDI on the stark white C29?Unfortunately I couldn’t see both of them, this season just leaving 4 races (perhaps 3?).
I hope Japansese companies back to F1 again and support japanese drivers as they did.