Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali says that he hopes to confirm Sauber’s 2014 customer powertrain deal in the near future.
While there has never been any question of Sauber going anywhere else the deal has not been confirmed due to obvious commercial reasons, given the massive financial commitment the Swiss team will have to make when it signs a multi-year deal.
It’s a similar situation with Lotus, whose expected Renault deal has yet to be inked.
“The thing is progressing very well,” said Domenicali. “We want to keep working with Sauber, as you know, hopefully very soon we will clarify formally the situation with them. That’s the intention.” Asked if it would be by Monza, he added: “I hope so.”
Meanwhile Domenicali made light of the fact that Mercedes and Renault have undertaken some PR by revealing details of their 2014 powertrains, while Ferrari has not.
“On the engine side we believe that what has been put out from our competitor [Renault] is an interesting marketing exercise, but I can guarantee to you that the pictures I have seen are not the engine that will be in the cars next year. If you want we can bet! I’m joking, but you understand what I want to say.
“So we are going ahead with our programme. It’s tight for everyone. From the engineering point of view it’s a really great challenge, and so that is the approach that Maranello, our people, are having in front of this project.”
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