Sauber still in touch with BMW - boss

Jul.23 - Monisha Kaltenborn says Sauber remains in contact with its former owner and works partner BMW.

BMW, the German carmaker, bought the Swiss private team ahead of the 2006 season, rebranding it BMW-Sauber and winning the 2008 Canadian grand prix before pulling out of formula one the following season.

Since then, once again as an independent, Sauber has struggled in the midfield, often for mere survival.

But co-owner and boss Kaltenborn insists the Hinwil based team is always ready to leap forwards in the event of a boosted budget.

"We have always been in the midfield and for BMW (we) were a pretty good platform to enter as the majority owner," she is quoted by Germany's motorsport-magazin.

"Then we made a jump in the shortest possible time and that shows what drives us to make the most of our finances," Kaltenborn added.

She explained that, even in the works days, the number of BMW-specific staff at Hinwil could be counted on a hand or two.

"This shows that if we have the right type of financing, we can make a huge leap forwards," said Kaltenborn. "But of course you need a little more to go all the way forward."

She is not even ruling out a return to F1 for BMW one day.

"They know us personally very well and we have good contacts with them. They know what they want and so it makes no sense to try to persuade them. We'll see," said Kaltenborn.

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