Sauber poised to make announcement

Sauber is poised to make a key announcement about the future.

The F1 rumour mill at Monza says the Swiss team will confirm either that Ferrari junior Charles Leclerc is joining for 2018 to replace Pascal Wehrlein, or that Sauber will adopt the name ’Alfa Romeo’ next year.

It is said the announcement is scheduled for either Sunday or Monday.

Either way, the suggestion is that Sauber is definitely ramping up its involvement with Ferrari, with new boss Frederic Vasseur having changed direction after scrapping the planned 2018 Honda deal.

"The deal is based on the powertrain," he said at Monza, "but then we will discuss that we could extend the deal on another parameter for some other parts."

However, Frenchman Vasseur played down the suggestions a deal with dominant Formula 2 rookie Leclerc is basically done.

"I think he has to be focused on the Formula 2 championship," he said. "There’s still a couple of races to go and it’s a bit too early to discuss that."