Monisha Kaltenborn has said that she is confident Sauber will be more competitive next year with Honda power.

Currently, the Swiss team are struggling with year-old Ferrari power units, but Sauber but will become works McLaren partner Honda's first engine customer for 2018.

However, the Honda is currently the least competitive and most unreliable engine in F1.

Sauber chief Kaltenborn told Bild newspaper: "I'm not worried about what we are seeing now. We are confident that Honda will get its problems under control."

As for how Kaltenborn can have that sort of confidence, she revealed that her discussions with Honda before signing the deal were lengthy.

"It's important to have transparency," she said, "and we were talking for a long time and have a good insight. It's important that Honda is aware of the problems and is committed to solving them."

Sauber remain pointless alongside McLaren at the bottom of the 2017 constructors' standings.