F1: Sauber saved: will be Ferrari powered in 2010

With just four races to go in the 2009 season, the BMW Sauber team has been sold to a group of investors who, seemingly, didn't think through their name in more than one language. Qadbak is, reportedly, a kind of fund into which several middle-eastern and European families have placed sufficient money to buy the team.

But this history of venture capitalists buying Formula One teams is poor and they have almost always packed up and gone home when the bills started rolling in.

Qadbak is not a typical VC outing, it seems. Thiessen says that he has been assured that the group knows what to expect in terms of costs and that it has both the resources and will to keep the team viable.

That, however, depends on whether the FIA decides to allow a 14th team to join the grid. At its recent meeting, it awarded the 13th place on the grid to the new Team Lotus. Sauber's orphaned team was listed as first reserve in case someone drops out.

That someone was presumed to be Renault or Toyota, but it could equally be one of the new teams, some of which appear to be entering in the time-honoured but romantic notion that you can build a competitive racing car in your shed using a hammer, a screwdriver, cardboard and sticky tape.

Theissen's job with Sauber was on secondment from BMW, where he retains his role as director of motorsport. But his deep involvement in the Sauber rescue hints at multiple if not divided loyalties. It is known that he was mightily annoyed that he learned of BMW's decision to leave Formula One at the same time as everyone else: when a press release was issued.

Whether Theissen stays on at Sauber will, to a degree, depend on whether he can find out who his new bosses are. He has said that he knows that the identities of those behind the project are known to a few people at BMW. But, so far, the team has been given no idea at all.

But in the meantime, he is not letting things slide: he has done a deal for next year's car to be powered by the Ferrari drivetrain. The Marenello team have learned their lesson: they lost the contract to supply Force India for 2009 because, Force India said, Ferrari could not guarantee to supply both engine and gearbox in time for the new season. With a Mercedes engine without KERS in a relatively poorly funded car seemingly able to match the best of the Ferrari factory cars with all the gimmicks and all of the resources, missing that deal must be seriously adding to the Italian team's annus horribilis.