Ecclestone "confident" new owner has saved Sauber

The team announced earlier this week a change of ownership following months of speculation about its future amid financial struggles. 

Ecclestone has already had several meetings with Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn this weekend.

"It's good, it looks like now they are safe," Ecclestone told Motorsport.com. "People kept saying that they were going to disappear, they're not going to be in the next race, and all this sort of thing.

"Now I'm confident, now I'm happy."

Ecclestone says he has faith in the people behind Longbow, although he has not met them.

"No, not yet. But they're on board. No problem with them, I'm sure. They want to make sure it's done properly.

On Friday Kaltenborn would only give limited information about the new owners.

"Longbow Finance is a Swiss company. They have been active in financial investments for more than 20 years, from Switzerland. Their operation involves typically private equity investment for international clients, and of course investment portfolio management."

Sources continue to suggest that the Swedish backers of Marcus Ericsson are involved in the Longbow deal, and intriguingly there is a direct connection between them and Longbow president and CEO Pascal Picci, who was announced this week as the new chairman of Sauber.

Since January 2013, Picci has been the secretary of a UK company called Sportpro Limited, which was originally established in 2006 as a vehicle to promote Ericsson's career.

Sportpro's directors are Swedish and include Finn Rausing, the billionaire who has been Ericsson's key backer for many years, as well as H&M clothing CEO Karl-Johan Persson.

Although there is no suggestion that Sportpro itself is connected to the Longbow deal – the UK company is understood to essentially be dormant – Picci's name shows that there were prior links between the Swedes and the new Sauber owners.