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Going back to the OP, I thought DC came across a little harshly there. Sauber were perhaps very average for a long time, knocking on the door of the top four around the early 2000s as I recall, but usually not quite being there, kind of like a Toro Rosso-like performance of nowadays - respectable. When BMW invested, as a team they delivered a win and a few competitive seasons (how many of the same team as nowadays and before made up BMW-Sauber?).
They are the kind of team that show how hard F1 is, but have put in enough decent performances to give them a lot of credibility. They've never been ridiculously slow and out of synch with the rest of the grid. Last year was a nadir and the van der Garde driver debacle did not help my view of the way the team was managed, but this year it looks like they've stepped up a bit.
Regarding Giovanazzi and Wehrlein, I wouldn't like to speculate. It's easy to jump in with a conspiracy theory (we remember when Schumacher was going to come back with Ferrari, we were told doctors advised him not to, but it was also widely thought he saw he wasn't going to be up to speed and didn't fancy that), but nowadays it's not 1984 in terms of medical advice. The days of someone like Brundle jumping back in the car after a big one like he had at Monaco and being asked something like how many fingers Sid Watkins was holding up are gone. More precautions are taken and this year, drivers need to be stronger than last.
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