Sauber hires ex-Toro Rosso engineer Xevi Pujolar to be head of F1 track engineering

Sauber has hired Xevi Pujolar to work as head of track engineering for the Swiss Formula 1 team.

Pujolar has worked for several F1 squads, including Jaguar, Williams and HRT, and was most recently employed by Toro Rosso as Max Verstappen’s race engineer.

The 43-year-old left the Italian team as part of an engineering reshuffle that followed Verstappen’s promotion to Red Bull in place of Daniil Kvyat after the Russian Grand Prix.

Pujolar began working at Sauber’s Hinwil base when F1’s summer shutdown ended earlier this week and will attend his first race in his new role at next month’s Singapore Grand Prix.

A Sauber statement confirmed that Paul Russell, who had been working as the team’s chief race engineer on an interim basis following the departure of Tim Malyon back in April, would move back to his previous position as head of performance integration after Pujolar’s appointment.

Shortly before last month’s Hungarian Grand Prix, it was announced that investment company Longbow Finance had bought Sauber in a deal that secured the team’s immediate future in F1.

That investment has allowed Sauber to start putting upgrades for the C35 into production and its team principal Monisha Kaltenborn hopes that this will allow the team to move up from last place in the constructors’ championship before the end of the season.

Speaking to Autosport, she said: "We have one or two things we want to bring in this year because we clearly don't want to finish where we are at the moment."

"So we will continue with what's in the pipeline there, but we are also focusing on next year because of the big rule change coming up.

"It's tough, but we've been through many difficulties in the last years. We always manage somehow."

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, Marcus Ericsson reflected on his memories of Spa and Monza – with the Italian Grand Prix taking place next weekend – from 2015.

The Swedish driver, who has scored a best finish of 12th at the Bahrain and Spanish races so far in 2016, outlined his hopes for points again in the upcoming events.

He said: “Looking back to last year’s Belgian and Italian Grands Prix, my memories are not too bad. I was able to score points by finishing both races in the top ten – in tenth and ninth.

“I remember we had a decent pace in both races last year, and I hope we can achieve similar results this time as well. In comparison to other circuits, the track at Spa is quite long with some interesting corners and passages – Eau Rouge, Blanchimont, Pouhon and so on. Engine power is the crucial factor, as it also is [at the next race] in Monza.”