Sauber in talks with 'several candidates' for team principal role

Sauber remains in talks worth "several candidates" over the vacant team principal role following Monisha Kaltenborn's exit two weeks ago.

Kaltenborn left the team after 17 years ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix over an alleged difference in opinion in the future direction of Sauber with its owners and chairman Pascal Picci.

Sauber was jointly run by team manager Beat Zehnder and technical director J?rg Zander in Baku, with the same structure remaining in Austria as talks continue with potential replacements for Kaltenborn.

When asked for an update on when a decision would be made, Zehnder said: "I cannot tell you, because we are still in talks with several candidates.

"As soon as we have something to announce, we will. It's only two weeks since Monisha was not with us anymore. Still everything is under control.

"It's not a big deal for the moment. There is not an immediate decision that has to be taken."

Zehnder was, howeve, confident that Sauber's planning for 2018 would not be affected by the delay in appointing a replacement.

"If we haven't got a team principal for the next half of the year then it might be a problem," Zehnder said.

"But for the moment, everything is running, everything is in order."