Sauber faced the 1996 season with the new Ford V10 engine, already knowing that at the end of the year it would lose the official supply, which would have been reserved for the Stewart team. The Suber for 1996, signed C15, encountered numerous technical problems mainly due to the malfunctions of the Ford V10, but also for a critical balance that prevented its correct behavior on the track. The two drivers, Frenzen and Herbert, therefore achieved poor results, which earned the Swiss team a disappointing seventh place in the constructors' final standings, with just 11 points, almost all obtained in Monte Carlo (Herbert third, Frenzen fourth).