Peter Sauber doesn't do controversy, outbursts or wild proclamations. He's been in Formula 1 for 17 years, all but four of those as a team principal, and throughout that time has remained a quiet man of the paddock. Even before his four years as a silent partner at BMW Sauber, the 66-year-old was never one of the more vocal members of the piranha club. Flavio Briatore he isn't.

And he won't change now, even though he has been forced – reluctantly – back to the front line after retaking control of the team he formed in 1970.