Clean Sauber designer Matt Morris
02/29/2012
S auber set the bar in the last test. Kamui Kobayashi set the fastest time of the four test days in Barcelona of 1: 22.312 minutes. The teams will have to measure themselves against this at the Circuit de Catalunya this week. The top teams have not yet revealed their cards. That is why it is difficult to predict where the Sauber Ferrari will end up if everyone is serious.
Red Bull and McLaren up front
Chief Designer Matt Morris makes an attempt: 'If we can believe our analysis of the times, then Red Bull and McLaren are ahead. There is still a question mark hanging over Ferrari. Behind it there is a very tight package made up of several teams. I believe that the gap between this midfield and the top will be smaller this year. '
The Englishman is satisfied with the way the tests have gone so far. The new Sauber C31 was in the pits a few times in the early stages, but the problems with the hydraulics and the transmission oil filter have apparently been solved. 'We got everything under control pretty quickly. There is nothing to worry about in terms of reliability.'
The Sauber C31 does what it promises
As if to prove it, Kobayashi completed 243 laps on the last two days of testing. And what about the speed? 'The car does what it's supposed to do. All the components have confirmed what the data promise,' replies Morris.
Sauber was the first team in the field to show a development step on the car. Three days after the presentation of the C31, a new engine cover was tried with an exhaust solution that differs from the other variants shown. Despite the different arrangements of the individual cars, Saubers chief designer doesn't believe that Formula 1 technology will be reinvented in this area.
'There won't be anything spectacular here. The rules don't allow it. The potential To help with the exhaust of the aerodynamics is much smaller than last year. ' The fact that Sauber was one of the few teams that did without the blown diffuser last year could be a small advantage. 'We had less to lose than others.'
Next Sauber update in Barcelona
Like almost all teams, Sauber will come up with a few modifications in the last week of Barcelona testing. 'That corresponds to 75 percent of the Melbourne package,' reveals MattMorris. The exhaust probably won't be one of them this time. As a small team, Sauber cannot afford gadgets like Ferrari, where they have been experimenting with the exhaust in all possible positions since the start of the test drives. 'Any modification in this area is an expensive pleasure,' says Morris. 'Before we do something like that, we have to be sure that it is clearly better.'
