Monisha Kaltenborn was cagey in Hungary when questioned on Sauber's new backers

Monisha Kaltenborn has re-iterated Sauber's intention to hand Sergey Sirotkin a race seat in 2014, even though the Russian teenager does not yet possess the required Super Licence.

Yet while the detail remains sketchy, the relief was obvious. Sauber have struggled to pay suppliers and team personnel this season, although Kaltenborn denied that their future had been in doubt. "We've gone through tough times before and we know we can survive. The question is not whether you want to survive, it's whether you want to, at some point in time, make the step ahead," she said. "We knew that if this deal came through, we'd have the basis in the long term to make our way up again - and that's what's going to happen now." And what of the cynics who don't think it'll happen? "I certainly have no reasons to believe that. I don't know why they think that. Maybe you need to ask them why they have that opinion," came the response. "We know what we're talking about and we have good reasons to believe in it."