Monisha Kaltenborn admits money had a part to play in signing Marcus Ericsson as one of Sauber's race drivers for 2015.

Ericsson's signing was announced on Saturday in Austin, with the Swede making the move after his previous team Caterham entered administration. With Sauber one of many teams also struggling financially, Kaltenborn confirmed to Crash.net that the backing Ericsson could bring to the team contributed to him getting the drive.



Asked if there were financial considerations involved, Kaltenborn replied: "Yes, there are.

"We have to be open about it because I think if you look at the situation today in Formula One for private teams you have to consider these kind of arguments when you make a decision. If it is now good or bad, let's leave that aside. The fact is that we did consider that as well, however he is not the only driver who has this kind of support so there's nothing negative about it."

And Kaltenborn said she is excited to sign Ericsson despite admitting he's not a driver who has been on her radar for very long.

"I am excited. I don't know him from a very long time - I only met him recently - but I have been watching him for the last couple of races and it was impressive to see what performance he showed, particularly in the last races.

"I can see that it must have been a very tough season for him, that's something that we have in common! It's good to see when somebody can keep cool that way, remain so focused and then still show actually this kind of improvement in his performance. So I think he is bringing the right qualities and the right experience over to us."