Sauber. WTF?

[Sonic]

From dark horse to fighting for the wooden spoon of the existing team. What went wrong?

From dark horse to fighting for the wooden spoon of the existing team. What went wrong?

They had to start with a car that wasn't massively underweight?

[UltimateDanGTR]

so, they had us all fooled. what we thought was real pace was low fuel running to get sponsors. To be fair to peter sauber, i can see why he did it but i genuinly thought the sauber had more pace. shame.

[Alfa Fan]

All fooled? When Mark Hughes had it as one of his huge insights in Autosport a couple of weeks ago about their long run pace that was the final nail in the coffin for them being quick this year.

[Robinho]

clearly running light to gain sponsors in testing i think, although they were moving forward in the early part of the race, both Koby and Pedor made a few passes which is more than most managed, so maybe their long pace was alright, we'll never know seeing as both cars broke

[Sonic]

They had to start with a car that wasn't massively underweight?

Yeah, shame. I thought we were long past stupid fake testing times.

Thanks Peter Sauber - you've screwed my FGP team ;) :p

[Malbec]

I think only part of their poor performance can be put down to running lighter in testing. Several teams have ended up slower than expected and that list includes Williams. Bahrain is as different an environment as you can expect from cold wintry European testing tracks, I think a few teams were caught out with their tyre setups in the massively different temperature encountered in Bahrain.

We'll find out back in Barcelona in a few races time exactly where the teams are relative to each other, the first few flyaway tracks have always thrown up slightly spurious results. Melbourne will be quite surprising too I think.

[pettersolberg29]

I think it's quite well known that Sauber have a good car, as its Sector 1 and 3 times were right up there. It was only Sector 2 that let them down. I expect solid points in Melbourne.

[K-Pu]

I think it's quite well known that Sauber have a good car, as its Sector 1 and 3 times were right up there. It was only Sector 2 that let them down. I expect solid points in Melbourne.

This quite contradicts what De la Rosa was saying. He said the car wasn´t good on long straights, but I guess their problems are not only with top speed...

[woody2goody]

I think it was the track that didn't suit their car to be honest.

But I thought Pedro had good pace, just a shame that reliability put a spanner in it for them. Pedro wouldn't have probably scored any points, but he wouldn't have been a long way away, as he was ahead of both STRs.

[harvick#1]

They had to start with a car that wasn't massively underweight?

didn't Williams do this type of thing last year, how many times was Rosberg fastest in practice only to be hanging around 10-15th all race

[truefan72]

sauber were a disappointment...but then again this was the first race under the new system so I'll give them a pass

[Sonic]

didn't Williams do this type of thing last year, how many times was Rosberg fastest in practice only to be hanging around 10-15th all race

That was a Williams issue which they resolved about 1/2 way through 2009. As soon as Williams stopped faffing about with low fuel banzi's on Friday Nico went on a run of consecutive points finishes, even on unsuited tracks like Spa.

[Pulidor]

Problems detected so far:
- Top speed in long straights
- Speed in slow corners

Tough combination :(

I expect them to be far better in Melbourne, otherwise it's gonna be a very hard season ahead, since I don't think they will develop their car that much (because of lack of funds)

[e2mtt]

Bahrain is a brutal test for a first race... especially with the new infield. You have:
The longest lap time on the circuit exaggerates the speed gap to the slower teams.
Extra long straights highlights any deficiency in straight-line speed.
The rough & twisty new infield was a handling nightmare.

All the teams will look better at Australia.

[N. Jones]

Yeah, shame. I thought we were long past stupid fake testing times.

Thanks Peter Sauber - you've screwed my FGP team ;) :p

:laugh:

I thought something was fishy with them!

[V12]

Hmm maybe some sort of hex has been placed on them for keeping the stupid BMW name?

Seriously though this isn't the first time it's happened, OK there's the long run analysis stuff as well, but it'd be boring if we could tell exactly who was going to be where from pre-season testing, finding out for real at the first weekend is half the fun :)

[wedge]

Too early to say

Maybe its a car that blows hot and cold like Toyota was last year.

[jens]

It certainly looks bleak for Sauber in terms of future outlooks. They are already one of the slowest among established teams and have barely any cash to keep developing further. Something must happen during this season - I can't help but feel that Sauber's ownership is only a temporary solution like Brawn's ownership was in 2009. But unlike Brawn, Sauber doesn't have the luxury of having a great car to attract sponsors and potential new owners/shareholders. But the factory at Hinwil should still be attractive, so we'll see.

[pettersolberg29]

I can see a rich Arabian buying Sauber midway through the season to help fund them. One big thing that helps Sauber financially is Kobayashi - as the top Asian driver in motorsport he may attract sponsorship. A podium for him may kick start Sauber again.

[Pulidor]

Thought I should bring this thread back again, as this is starting to look very bad for them :(

What a disaster! I don't really know what to expect next. Obviously the margin for improvement is as big as it gets:

Bahrain: double DNF (KOB lap 11, DLR lap 28)
Australia: KOB DNF (1st lap), DLR P12
Malaysia: double DNF (KOB lap 8, DLR lap 0)

3 races finished until now, or 163 laps of competition, of which Kobayashi has only raced 20. For DLR is not quite bright either. On qualifying they look something like lower-mid class, but if you rely on results (which is what F1 is about) I think they are the worst team so far (maybe together with Virgin) of the whole bunch. Even Lotus and Hispania are showing some progress compared to this! :(

[Robinho]

i really can't see them seeing out the season at this rate. car is getting worse and they have no sponsors = no future

[steveaki13]

Really looking dark for Sauber.

They firstly need some realiability but if they can get that, I think they should score a few points.
I hope they can find a bit more pace and mix it with the Toro Rosso's and Williams.

[Sonic]

Peter Saubers face as he left the pit wall said it all. He returned to save the team and the jobs that go hand in hand, but without a point to their name, any sponsorship or a development budget its going to be a hard slog.

[steveaki13]

I think if they loose the BMW paint scheme, and repaint in the traditional Sauber colours then Sauber will gain at least a second a lap surely. :D :p

[Roamy]

ugly car - dumb owner - terrible drivers === fill in the blank

[Stram_man]

Why would Peter Sauber bother?
Why would he bother fielding a car with no sponsorship, no time for development and no money?
He would have pocketed some cash when BMW bought in a few years ago. Why did they make him keep the BMW part?

I cannot see BMW would be keen to be associated with the poor showing nor the "Ferrari" being part of the name.

Sauber's golden years were with the Group C sportscars

[Mia 01]

At this point it´s some faults in the team.

Lack of money.
Kaba is overdriving the car, trying a little to hard.
The Ferrari engine. Thirsty and unreliable.

But.

They will soon be back scoring some points.

[Malbec]

Why would he bother fielding a car with no sponsorship, no time for development and no money?
He would have pocketed some cash when BMW bought in a few years ago. Why did they make him keep the BMW part?

I cannot see BMW would be keen to be associated with the poor showing nor the "Ferrari" being part of the name.

I believe BMW are in fact paying Sauber running costs for this year much as Honda did for Brawn last year, if only so that BMW would not be liable for the costs of winding the team down. The problem is what happens next year? Can Sauber get sponsors in time?

The fact that they are already first after McLaren in developing an F-duct shows that they are doing some development back home but ultimately they are in trouble.

I found it quite interesting that both drivers seemed to have engine problems yet were reported to have hydraulic failures after the race. Did they have leaking pipes thanks to the pistons that had just escaped from the engine block?

[N. Jones]

I read somewhere that Peter Sauber is going to run the team only so long until it is in a position to be sold to someone or something that will run it for a long time.

I just forget where I read that... maybe Autosport?

[Koz]

Does this not mirror what happened last year for them?
Fast in practices and a snail at the races?
I don't understand why anyone is surprised...


I read somewhere that Peter Sauber is going to run the team only so long until it is in a position to be sold to someone or something that will run it for a long time.

I just forget where I read that... maybe Autosport?

Yes, I also read that somewhere.

[aryan]

They are probably a bit faster than last year's BMW to be honest, with a weaker engine this year, so I don't know what's wrong with what Peter is doing.

[jens]

Slow and unreliable car with little money for the future - I suspect they are going to be the first team to possibly get caught by the new teams.

It has been mentioned here that BMW might be funding Sauber's season in 2010. Has this been confirmed anywhere? Because I haven't noticed so far, while last year Honda's role was widely confirmed. And since I can't see any sponsors on the car, I keep wondering, what kind of funds does Sauber have and for how long can he keep going with them.

[V12]

Even if BMW are funding them on the quiet that's still no excuse for the name. It's not like "Honda-Mercedes" won the title last year...

[Saint Devote]

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=363652&FS=F1

I think this just illustrates Sauber's argument at the time NOT to sign Nick Heidfeld - that he "knew the team" and a change was wanted - was not a positive decision.

Heidfeld is not only a solid driver but he has experience with the Sauber team and years of RACING experience.

Aamzing upon reflection really.