Top guns concerned by Sauber

"Only one team could do consistently good laptimes on all the tyres and in all the conditions, and it was Sauber," confirmed Martin Whitmarsh, whose McLaren team had travelled to Sepang with arguably the fastest car.

Also in Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner agreed: "They (Sauber) have somehow managed to get all of the tyres to work perfectly, which at the moment is the key to success.

The (tyre) window is so small that it's very easy to not be in it," added the Briton.

And Sepang winner Fernando Alonso, whose victory was only ensured by a late-race mistake by Sauber's Sergio Perez, admitted: "No doubt about it, they were quicker than us."

Some believe it was only the Malaysian weather chaos that brought the Ferrari-powered C31 to the top of F1's form-guide, but the Sauber was in fact also fast in Australia.

"Our cars were severely damaged at the start (in Melbourne)," explained chief designer Matt Morris. "At the front for Perez, the rear for Kobayashi."

Nonetheless, both finished inside the top eight.

"The race in Malaysia showed very clearly how fast our car is," insisted team boss Peter Sauber, writing in Blick newspaper.

"After two very different tracks, we have the assurance now that the C31 is a success."

The next question is precisely how the small Hinwil based team has managed to build a pace-setting car.

One possible answer is the end of the blown diffuser era, and the fact that Sauber's 2012 solution has already been copied by F1's formerly-dominant Red Bull.

Italy's Autosprint, meanwhile, claims Ferrari is next, mischievously suggesting that the updated F2012 might aptly be called the 'Ferrauber'.

Referring to the FIA exhaust clampdown, Morris admitted: "We had to give up less than our opponents."

Peter Sauber added: "When I saw that Red Bull had chosen a similar route to us, I was sure that we were right."

Another trick on the C31 is a clever use of the loophole allowing an opening at the front of the car for driver cooling.

"It's no match-winner," Morris insists, "but it gains us some (lap) time."

And Autosprint reports that another "trick" on the Sauber is located in front of the rear wheels, exploiting yet another "grey zone" in the regulations.

Source: http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/clever-sauber-turning-heads-in-2012/

Well, whatever the secret(s) of Sauber's new-found form, I hope the rest of the grid doesn't catch up too quickly. Its nice to see a perennial mid-grid team bothering the front-runners.

Even moreso that they've apparently been able to make their car work well in all conditions on all tyres, without copying any innovations from the bigger teams.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for an underdog.

Im enjoying the unpredictability at the moment, hopefully this means there is still hope for Hispania racing!!

Lets see what its like in a dry race first as IIRC in Aussie when it was dry, it didnt make as much of an impression as it did in wet Malaysia. Still would be good for Sauber to get some decent points this season.

Critical_mass wrote:Lets see what its like in a dry race first as IIRC in Aussie when it was dry, it didnt make as much of an impression as it did in wet Malaysia. Still would be good for Sauber to get some decent points this season.

They were still 6th and 8th, (starting from 13th and 22nd), which by their standards is a big improvement.

I have a feeling they'll be nicking points from the likes of Renault, Toro Rosso and Force India, possibly even Mercedes, on a regular basis.

I don't think the top guns as you put it are overly worried at all regarding the performance of Sauber. It was in changeable conditions and once the big teams really engage and flex their financial muscle in development, then the gap between the front 3 or 4 teams will widen to the middle of the pack.....simple F1 fact. When we enter into the european phase the mclarens & red bulls of this world will have gained considerable time. The beginning of the season is always unpredictable and then a pattern emerges.