Sauber on Monday became the next team to reveal its 2012 car.
Photographers captured the new C31 in Jerez, where group testing will begin 24 hours later.
Summarising all the efforts put into developing the new Sauber C31-Ferrari, Chief Designer Matt Morris says: “The C31 is revolutionary where we had fresh ideas, particularly at the rear of the car, and it is an evolution where we knew we could carry over certain approaches. We had to improve on the weaknesses we identified on the C30, but at the same time we wanted to maintain its strengths.”
One of the goals was to increase the scope of the operating envelope compared to its predecessor. “We had established some good directions to go in towards the end of last year with the C30 which we wanted to continue with, particularly some of our DRS developments, and some of the ways we were opting for with the car’s set up in order to improve our qualifying performance without compromising our race pace,” elaborates Morris.
The biggest change coming from the new Technical Regulations is that the exhaust position had to be moved away from the floor, which has required quite a new approach.
Despite continuity in respect of the tyre supplier, Morris also sees new challenges in this area: “We expect quite different tyre characteristics in 2012. Pirelli is in its second year, so is now beginning to refine its compounds and the tyre’s profile. The compounds generally tend to be heading to slightly softer solutions, slightly more biased to a stronger front tyre than last year. This, of course, changes the way you balance the car.”
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