Sauber F1 Team 2014

[countersteer]

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20140428/F1/140429858

Simona de Silvestro's debut Formula One test for Sauber was funded by a wealthy industrialist.
During the weekend, the Swiss team headed to engine supplier Ferrari's private test circuit, Fiorano, to give the "affiliated driver" her first F1 experience.
Over the two days and an impressive 180 laps, the 25-year-old was at the wheel of a 2012-spec Sauber C31, but it was not wearing the Hinwil-based team's usual dark grey livery.
In fact, it was Sauber's very first outing at Fiorano since 2005 with Jacques Villeneuve.
The man paying for ex-IndyCar driver de Silvestro's F1 program is Imran Safiulla, according to the Swiss newspaper Blick.
It emerges that de Silvestro will actually do no fewer than 10 test days this year, with the next outing to take place at Valencia, Spain.
"It's not the cheapest thing in the world," said Safiulla, "but we can build something for the future."
Safiulla is a wealthy industrialist who has supported de Silvestro's racing efforts since 2006, including buying into the IndyCar team KV Racing.
At Fiorano, Sauber's 2012 car was painted in a white, blue and green livery, with “Clean Air Energy” and “Hybrid” decals, although the car was V8-powered and not equipped with KERS.

Is it "normal" for a pay test driver to bring their own livery to a test using an old car? It appears that Simona's backer has basically bought support from Sauber for a side project with no real attachment to the team. I'm asking here... I really don't know.

[mnmracer]

Is it "normal" for a pay test driver to bring their own livery to a test using an old car? It appears that Simona's backer has basically bought support from Sauber for a side project with no real attachment to the team. I'm asking here... I really don't know.

I've never seen it before. Might be a first here.

[Cuky]

well, it might not be normal. But you have to take into considerations that Sauber's budget is not that big and that this test probably wouldn't have happened if Simona wasn't paying from "her own pocket". And, I wouldn't be surprised if Sauber announce her as one of 2 drivers for 2015. with her backers as one of, if not main, sponsor of the team

[siskue2005]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwgHNiDbHiI

she is good

[countersteer]

It is an interesting way to approach things. While she was in Indycar, Simona's backers gained a reputation for being very controlling and difficult to work with. They are very much cultivating a specific "brand" and require control of it.

It appears to me that her backers simply contracted Sauber to provide a car and the necessary support services to get Simona a superlicense. Once this happens (and I have little doubt that it will), I can see them shopping a sponsorship package to a variety of teams. I don't have a clue what kind of money would be required to buy the level of control they may want in a team. I would be surprised if her backing ever reached $10M annual in the Indycar series which won't go far in the F1 world.

As for her abilities... I think she is very capable and impressed the Sauber team. When she first drove an Indycar at Sebring, the day was planned to be an "orientation" day. By late morning, that had been accomplished and they went straight into a test and development program. She was signed shortly thereafter. I really hope she lands a seat. I think she would do well.

[marcush.]

wow ..a very professonal Approach here .Simona will get a seat no doubt here .

[countersteer]

I recognize that we may be hijacking the Sauber team thread for Simona. Maybe it's time to split it? Anyways...

Interesting article on Simona's backers and their plans for her...

here's a snip...
Imran Safiulla met Pierluigi and Emanuela de Silvestro in 2006, after their daughter produced two podium finishes in a weekend of Formula BMW USA racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The de Silvestros had reached the extent to which they could finance their daughter's burgeoning career, and the next steps would require exponentially more financing. Safiulla had it.

You look at the reality of strength of let's call her the everyday woman -- your wife, your sister, your mother, my mother, the everyday women, the not-size-zero, starving-themselves, wanting-to-be-somebody-else's-attachment, that is not the everyday woman. That is not the everyday woman's image in this country or anywhere in the world, so Simona potentially tickled this aspect of my passion because I thought it would be fantastic if there were a possibility to develop a sports athlete who could truly be a role model for young women.
Imran Safiulla
"He made all parts come together, final for me and for him, and then he took care of her and helped make her what she is now," Pierluigi de Silvestro said. "You need someone who is willing to make it all happen with all the problems that can happen with women. There are not so many people believing in the women."

The son of wealthy industrialists from Bangalore, India, Safiulla had been an investor in motorsports at various times since 2003, and was in search of the right driver, the right female driver, specifically, around which to build a concept that was part commerce and part social activism. The goal: Build a "gender neutral" socially progressive brand "without it being a feministic approach or the stereotypical take-your-shirt-off approach, which is basically appealing to the male demographic that all sports have done.

Safiulla said he realized from his youth the disparity between the opportunities afforded the "very strong women" in his family as opposed to others in Indian society.

"So this social consciousness definitely came from that," he said.

Though females make an ever-growing amount of consumer decisions, he said, marketing continues to skew toward males. Therein lies an unexploited niche. That de Silvestro's naturally projected image -- athletic, a grown version of the self-described "tomboy" who skied and fenced as a child -- was what Safiulla considered more of an "everyday woman" made her potentially the perfect bridge, he said, to women.

"You look at the reality of strength of let's call her the 'everyday woman' -- your wife, your sister, your mother, my mother, the everyday women, the not-size-zero, starving-themselves, wanting-to-be-somebody-else's-attachment, that is not the everyday woman," he said. "That is not the everyday woman's image in this country or anywhere in the world, so Simona potentially tickled this aspect of my passion because I thought it would be fantastic if there were a possibility to develop a sports athlete who could truly be a role model for young women."

For the whole article...

http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentar ... g-approach

[Italiano]

Simona de Silvestro's debut Formula One test for Sauber was funded by a wealthy industrialist.

Wealthy industrialist you say..?

[Sombrero]

http://www.blick.ch/sport/formel1/forme ... 57544.html

Sauber F1 Team build the first monocoque single seater bobsleigh...

[slimfitcasual]

It appears to me that her backers simply contracted Sauber to provide a car and the necessary support services to get Simona a superlicense. Once this happens (and I have little doubt that it will), I can see them shopping a sponsorship package to a variety of teams.

Possibly, but she's worn plenty of Sauber gear in photo ops at Barcelona. I can see Sutil out next year with Simona a likely replacement.

[idfx]

very nice video of sauber: telemetry
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sR5oCIfXDI[/youtube]
source: Sauber F1 Team

Sauber F1 Team wrote
...We give you a full lap of live F1 telemetry data with a parallel view of the steering wheel and display. The lap in this video was taken during our filming day in Fiorano and the C33 was equipped with a few #GoPro cameras, so the driver didn't push too hard and top speed was "only" 242 kph. Watch and learn!

Has infographic for download.
edit

Here are some interesting facts & figures:
- some 140 sensors are built into the race cars
- 10 MB of data radio-transmitted per car per lap
- 20-30 MB of data per car per lap in total
- 30 GB of collected and computed data per race weekend
- 4 engineers per car monitor the data

[Kiril Varbanov]

[slimfitcasual]

Livery change on the rear wing, inverse Sauber F1 Team logo. A complete loss of sponsorship on the end plates can't be good.

[SectorOne]

Sauber testing in Valencia? What sort of test?
https://twitter.com/simdesilvestro/stat ... 3214278656

[gary123]

Sauber testing in Valencia? What sort of test?

https://twitter.com/simdesilvestro/stat ... 3214278656

Test with the 2012 car. It's like the previous one at Fiorano.