Sauber is in the midst of its worst season to date in Formula 1 and thus far the team has failed to score a single point. Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutiérrez both retired in Singapore last weekend – the fourth double DNF of the year for the outfit. Despite their troubling 2014 campaign, Kaltenborn is confident next year will be different.

"It is in the making," she told the official Formula 1 website, when asked how far along the team is with next year's challenger.

"Sauber has a bit of a history with always struggling when massive rule changes came into effect, but we have always been able to bounce back in the next season.

"Just think back to the exhaust [-blown diffuser] issue: we didn't get it right in the first year, but the following season we were right there getting a couple of podiums.

"So I am confident that whatever we learn on this year's car, the mistakes, we will not make them on the new car."

"We have not forgotten how to make good cars. This year's challenger is not one of our good cars - but it's also not the worst car! We know why this all is happening," she added.

"We know where we went wrong, but we also see that the powertrain plays an important role this year - that has been proven by other powertrains throughout the grid. We do not have the most competitive one, which makes it very difficult for a team like ours when you are limited on the resources to try and compensate."

Meanwhile, she was evasive when quizzed on the team's financial position, merely stating that a "strong partner is always a good fit" and that with one Sauber "would be able to be more competitive."