Sauber have no excuse not to move up the order in 2017 according to team boss Monisha Kaltenborn, now that their financial situation has improved vastly with a recent takeover by Longbow Finance.
The Swiss team finished a lowly eighth in the Constructors' standings last season with 36 points, ahead of only McLaren and Marussia. However this season they have yet to score a single point in 12 races – at the same point in 2015 they had scored 23 points.
The team are essentially racing the same car this year as they did last year, albeit with an upgraded Ferrari power unit, and although Kaltenborn says there is more to come from the C35, they want to make a major leap forward in '17.
"Our focus is to get back to business as normal," Kaltenborn told Autosport. "We need to focus not just on how to survive the next day but to think longer term and get the most out of the car.
"I'm convinced you can still get things out of this year's car, but then [also] focus on next year's car. There are no excuses not to be good next year.
"We're not saying we want to be right on top next year but we know what we can do. We have the infrastructure for it and we have the people so why should we not have that ambition?"
The team is currently without a technical director after Mark Smith quit pre-season and Kaltenborn is keen to begin rebuilding their technical team.
"We would like a technical director back and the people [in the team] want that as well but it's not easy to find the right person," she admitted.
"There are a couple of areas we need to look at. Wherever it is strategically necessary, we will recruit. It is about additions and replacements."
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