With the BMW era now firmly consigned to history, Peter Sauber's battle-hardened Hinwil operation continue their perennial quest for survival in Formula 1's ever-competitive midfield.
A seventh-placed finish in the 2011 Constructors' Championship represented an improvement of one position and 24 points compared to 2010, although the C30's performance relative to Force India tailed off somewhat in the second half of the year and Sauber only just staved off Toro Rosso at the final round.
The Swiss outfit's form in the opening 10 races of the year saw them finish in the points on nine occasions - although their two-car top-10 finish at the first race was chalked off for a technical infringement - and owed as much to clever strategy and tyre management calls as outright pace.
The arrival of young hotshot Sergio Perez to partner the exciting Kamui Kobayashi had allowed Sauber to tap into some much-needed funding from Mexico's Telmex group - although initial speculation about a buy-in by the telecommunications giant proved wide of the mark.
Twelve months earlier and the situation had appeared somewhat precarious; Peter Sauber, who originally launched his motorsport venture in the 1970s before entering F1 in 1993, was forced to put his retirement on hold and step back in to save the team he founded after German car giants BMW pulled the plug on their F1 involvement just four years after Sauber had entrusted the team's future to them.
That Sauber continue to perform minor miracles and take on some greater funded rivals is to their considerable and should be no surprise given their longstanding record of upsetting the financial odds. A fifth-placed finish on their debut, six podiums and a heroic fourth place in the 2001 Constructors' Championship represent the F1 equivalent of David slaying Goliath.
While the team's major success came under BMW's ownership in 2006-2009 - when the Hinwil outfit's sole win at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix was achieved - punching above their weight is in Sauber's DNA and unlikely to change for some time yet.
