Just a couple of days ago I was writing about how Sauber needs stability to make progress, but it seems that the whole team has gone topsy-turvy in recent days with CEO and team principal Monisha Kaltenborn apparently set to depart, it seems because she is unhappy with the way that Sauber is being overseen by investment manager Pascal Picci, the chairman of the holding company. He is the front man for investors but it is not clear if they have played any significant role in the story.

The suggestion is that the two personalties were not getting on and that Kaltenborn felt that the chairman of the company was interferring in what she was trying to achieve. Whether she walked or was pushed is currently not clear but some sources say that the decision was mutual. There have been signs of stress in recent weeks with Kaltenborn trying to recruit new technical leadership and the owners wanting to stay with what they have. The word is that at the centre of the problem is the team’s technical director Jorg Zander, who has thus far failed to make much of an impact in his six months in the job. Updates failed to arrive in Spain and when they did appear in Monaco they were not apparently an improvement.

It remains to be seen who will take over the role, although the logical thing to do would be for the team to contact one of the people who has immediate experience in the management of F1 teams at this level. One thinks, specifically, of Dave Ryan and Frederic Vasseur, but the German angle could also bring Jost Capito into play.

The big problem for the team is whether or not the people who were recruited to Sauber by Kaltenborn will stay if she is departing. As previously explained, getting people to move to Switzerland is a big problem.