Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn has confirmed that the Swiss outfit will run 2016-spec Ferrari power units next season.
Kaltenborn stressed that the decision was made months ago, in order for Sauber to focus on chassis and performance development.
Sauber is currently last of the 11 teams’ in the championship, having failed to score a point so far in 2016.
In July it was announced that the struggling team had changed ownership, with Longbow Finance taking over.
“We will be using the latest specification of the 2016 Ferrari engine in 2017," Kalten told Reuters at Suzuka, ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.
“We took this decision a while ago…at a time where actually the rules for next year were not 100 percent clear.
“We took a strategic decision that we want to focus the resources we have on chassis development and performance development, and in a way leave the engine side to the areas we know.”
