Sauber has the tools to race in the mid-field - Kaltenborn

Sauber boss Monisha Kaltenborn believes the Swiss outfit has what it takes to race consistently in the mid-field.

Pascal Wehrlein's remarkable drive to eighth in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix, supported by a bold but successful one-stop strategy, helped dissipate a bit of the team's disappointment since the season got underway in Melbourne.

But the Hinwill-based squad needs to sustain its performance to achieve its target of racing at the upper end of the mid-field.

"Yes we had a good race in Barcelona, but we are still a bit disappointed with how we started the season," Kaltenborn told the sport's official website Formula1.com.

"We expected more. But from that disappointment we now take the strength to say: ‘That’s not it - we can do better!’

"And we did, because we have the tools for it and the stability. Giving up is not in our DNA. We want to achieve our target at the end of the season.

"We want to catch up again to the midfield. Yes, the midfield is large, so the higher the better. But with all the changes that have happened in the team, we are set to be back in the midfield."

• Wehrlein vindicated by Barcelona performance - Kaltenborn

Moving up the grid obviously entails upgrades to the team's new-spec C36 chassis.

"Major parts that should also lead to a performance gain are planned for the Monaco weekend. After that the next ones should be Austria, Silverstone and Budapest," added Kaltenborn.

While Marcus Ericsson recently lamented the fact that Sauber is powered by a year-old Ferrari engine before its switches to Honda power in 2018. But Kaltenborn insists the choice was deliberate.

"It was the recommendation from our technical management board. They saw advantages learning from the experiences we had in the year before: that if you know the power unit you can fully concentrate on the aero side, on the chassis side.

"These were the advantages from a development perspective. Yes, we knew that there would be a power deficit, but the target was to compensate as much as you can through your aero development.

"That was not achieved - unfortunately. I think everybody in the team had hoped that it would turn out better - so yes, there is disappointment, but we will overcome that."

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