Sauber has locked Adrian Sutil, Esteban Gutierrez and Giedo van der Garde out of Formula 1 for now.
The Swiss team has instead signed Williams reserve Lebanese Brazilian Felipe Nasr, and his sponsor Banco do Brasil, to be Caterham refugee Marcus Ericsson’s teammate in 2015.
It leaves not only Sauber’s existing drivers Sutil and Gutierrez looking for seats, but also the well-sponsored Dutchman van der Garde, who may be surprised to have missed out on his return to F1 with the team next season.
Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn said: “We have been following Felipe’s career path for some time now. He fully deserves his position in Formula 1 having had a very successful career in the junior categories.”
“We are happy that he will be driving for our team next year. This means that Brazil will have one more young and talented driver in the sport.”