Peter Sauber has blazed the trail in many ways during his stint in Formula 1. Now he's ready to do it again with his Club One initiative. Dieter Rencken explains why it could be a winner

While F1 truly rocked to full stands and a fantastic race in Montreal, dark clouds are said to be amassing on the horizon as numerous sponsorship contracts come up for renewal this year, their three-season (or even five-year) cycles ending after Abu Dhabi.

Some significant title and secondary sponsorships are due to end soon, with the prevailing economic climate hardly instilling optimism in teams. Due to the long-term nature of most alliances, F1 teams are subjected to 'last-in; last-out' situations, whereby deals struck when the going is good generally end in down cycles – at which point the size of contracts forces companies to hold well back before committing. Thus most deals are signed when the economy is cresting before committing to partnerships. And, boom times generally precede busts...

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