Sauber Renaissance

MCLS

Anti F1 fan
Valued Member
With all the attention at the moment on team orders, team-mates and front wings, little has been made of the fact that Sauber have been climbing through the field after a difficult start to the season. Pedro De La Rosa scored his first points of this season with a strong drive to 7th while Kobayashi came from the back row to finish 9th. Kobayashi now has 17 points and is really proving himself as a strong prospect for the future, while De La Rosa is starting to overcome the bad luck that plagued him in the early races. With Sauber desperate for sponsors, the current upturn in form will be just what the doctor ordered and puts them well clear of Torro Rosso and towards the Williams and Force India's and personally I dont think they have been given enough credit for the recent upturn in form.
 
Sauber's improvements have been pretty impressive actually, and fairly unnoticed. Hungary is a fairly unique track though and things could be turned on their head come Spa/Monza. I've personally been a bit disappointed in the Force Indias, who seem to show great promise from time to time then slip back to obscurity.
 
Force India hopefully are good for Spa, ala last year's almost win.

Sauber, I do wonder how much of the improvement is them still concentrating on the 2010 car where as others around them are also focusing on the 2011 car?

They are (Sauber) the quiet team of the F1 grid, they are not the top 4 teams (RBR, McLaren, Ferrari & Renault), or the ones trying to get in that group (Mercedes, Williams, Force India), or the 3 new teams (Hispania, Lotus & Virgin). They are like Toro Rosso just getting on with their job, & picking points every now & again without the dramas.
 
Considering their lack of sponsorship and the fact that at the beginning of the season, they were languishing with the new teams, I think they have done an amazing job and showing BMW what can be accomplished with the right people.

Williams seem to be the other team doing a good job on limited funds..
 
I'll be doing a lengthy article on Sauber this week, look out for it :)


But yes, I am delighted to see Sauber starting to do well again, and particularly ecstatic for Kobayashi, who had a fantastic performance from 23rd yesterday.
 
Yes, I am very pleased for Sauber and Williams. Kobayashi had an excellent race, showing what can be achieved from the back of the grid. Ok, he had the 'new' teams directly in front of him and he had some fortune with retirements ahead of him, but still a very good day at the office. And let's not forget how well De la Rosa did to get into Q3 and consolidate that with a good race result. Peter Sauber must be delighted.
 
I suppose it helps Sauber that they have one of the better and more experienced testers driving their car, hence whilst they don't get any testing they do get a test driver style feedback.

Again, Spa/Monza may not be great for them (they didn't do well at Canada) but you have to say the only way it would be better to see Sauber there is if they were painted Blue and Green!

And if someone tells Felipe he's a #2 driver, they could be right back to history...
 
I think Spa should suit them actually. Monza perhaps not so much, but with a few updates, I reckon they could get a top 10 finish at Spa. Would be great to see.
 
Early on this year, i was more worried about the possibility of loosing Sauber than one of the new teams, but now, they seem to be gaining amazing results on a budget that must be absolutely dwarfed by Williams, Force India.. in fact, all the teams that they are competing against! How did BMW manage to spend sooo much money and only regularly gather results comparable to Sauber this year??
 
Just goes to show it isn't all about money. Sauber were always a very respectable midfield operation, and now they've inherited a lot of the sophisticated equipment that BMW paid to have installed at Hinwil. Obviously the staff numbers have been cut drastically, but they've scored a bit of a coup (IMO) by taking James Key from Force India as Technical Director.

Full credit to them though. They started the season with a car that was both unreliable and slow, and have seemingly been able to cure both problems at the same time - no mean feat!
 
Galahad said:
Just goes to show it isn't all about money. Sauber were always a very respectable midfield operation, and now they've inherited a lot of the sophisticated equipment that BMW paid to have installed at Hinwil. Obviously the staff numbers have been cut drastically

A little like Honda/Brawn... but without quite such instant results??

Maybe not, Brawn (as i understand it) hardly developed the car during the year, Sauber have improved hand over fist!
 
It's more a question of talent. A good TD should identify the areas that will produce the best gains, and prioritise their resource allocation accordingly. That's what Ross Brawn has proven to be so good at down the years. Toyota had boatloads of cash, but so much of it was wasted because of a lack of proper technical leadership (not necessarily due to the individuals involved, but the structure that constrained them).

Williams likewise are under severe financial pressure, but have also made good improvements to their car this year.
 
I hear you on the Toyota thing. I never knew their structure, but i knew they were spending an awful lot of money. A great example to show how badly you can get it wrong with all the resources in the world at your disposal.

Leadership is key! that's what i take from your reasoning, and i see no reason to argue.

So, do we give all credit Peter Sauber, or the immediate team he has put around him. I wonder, in his years of BMW ownership, maybe he could step back and see the weak-spots, the little breakdowns, the small inefficiencies, and when he's come back to the helm, he's armed and dangerous with new experience and ideas?
 
Speshal said:
Great to see them improving - Kamui is rapidly ruining my chances of coming last in the Fantasy F1 tho

LOL

From what I can see, you're only one point off the precipice and Amdathalonuk is improving, so I'd still say you have every chance of finishing last!
 
Grizzly said:
So, do we give all credit Peter Sauber, or the immediate team he has put around him.

I think you may have answered your own question there;
Who was it again who put the immediate team around him? ;)
 
As I've put on another post, may see PDL not excel as much as Kobayashi for the remainder of the season, as Pedro has used 7 engines, and KK has only used 5, and the allotment is 8 isn't it.

Irrespective I do hope they have a strong finish to the season, and get some decent sponsorship for 2011.
 
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