Sauber C34 Ferrari

[PlatinumZealot]

The sauber was on the way to scoring points at the end of the year and their car was the heaviest and their brake by wire was the worst on the grid. Coupled with the new enngine, If they sorted those problems out for this new chassis, even if it is basically a refined c33, it might be a decent little car that can score regular points this year.

[Matt Somers]

Maximum diffuser width is 1000mm, but whilst we're on the topic of Saubers I noticed something (may not be as I have drawn it but it all seems to line up)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bjrRlkF6axA/V ... 3fe171.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vjV1WAnbxSI/V ... 3fe171.png

I explain my thoughts on whats going on here: http://somersf1.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/ ... cal_3.html

Interesting idea but I'm not sure they've made an opening in the side wall of the diffuser. For one thing the rules prevent that sort of thing these days.

More likely that their performance is due to Ferrari having made a real step change in the PU's performance. Either that or the others really aren't pushing that hard where the Sauber is flat out and thus is actually slow. Until we get towards the start of the season proper we won't know which of those is true.

I'm not suggesting that their uplift in performance is related to this, Sauber clearly had many issues last season mainly associated with the PU, brake-by-wire and overall weight of the car. I've asked Mark to see if he can get a closer shot of the diffuser to verify what I think I can see...

[Just_a_fan]

Hopefully you can get a clearer shot. If they are doing as you indicate then we can expect an appeal to the FIA from a rival team followed by another diffuser arms race!

Sauber were on soft tyres during their fast laps when others were on medium according to the driver.

[stefan_]

2015 Winter testing | Session 1, Day 4 - Jerez de la Frontera, Spain (04.02.2015)

[AnthonyG]

That car reminds me so hard of a platypus.

[timbo]

If angle on 5th pic was a little different we would've been able to see the engine packaging. Although it does look like no wrap around exhausts.

[SectorOne]

The nose seems to be one of those "we can´t afford to put any R&D into this so lets just stick on a lump of carbon fiber and pass the tests comfortably"

It´s like they have fitted a giant log under what would be the actual nose, just to not do crash test after crash test.



Sorry if i broke a Sauber fans heart but we know they did not have cash, we know they had to decide early on what design-choices to go with. It´s no surprise the nose is completely different from anything else on the grid.
IT´s a massive log and i don´t buy the idea that engineers over at Sauber said "well after many interations, we feel this is the best way to go" no F way.

If other more financially stable teams can´t even get their intended nose to the test there´s no way Sauber could even afford to build their intended nose. Now with the cash coming i can guarantee you that nose will change.

You can sit and do whatever noses you want in CAD programs but it´s an entirely different thing to build one then crash test it, modify it, crash it again, modify it again, crash it again.

[PlatinumZealot]

Now that you say it. I think you are very correct! It looks like the 2014 nose with some bits of carbon fibre added to meet 2015 regs!

[scuderiafan]

Nasr brings the Banco do Brasilia branding on board and it compliments Ericsson's helmet perfectly!

[Bikeman]

..."we can´t afford to put any R&D into this so lets just stick on a lump of carbon fiber and pass the tests comfortably" ...

.. so what?.. Guess everybody else is happs they did, otherwise they would be 2 sec. ahead..

[SectorOne]

..."we can´t afford to put any R&D into this so lets just stick on a lump of carbon fiber and pass the tests comfortably" ...

.. so what?.. Guess everybody else is happs they did, otherwise they would be 2 sec. ahead..

It´s not to put down Sauber in any way and if it sounded like that i apologize.
I just made the statement that it´s obviously a "pass the test"-nose of insane proportions.

It´s an extreme sample of what say Mercedes did last year.
They could not pass the tests so they literally stuck more carbon fiber on it until it would pass the test.
Now with Sauber at the time having virtually zero cash you can´t be building iteration after iteration of noses to just barely pass a test. Build one solid you just know will pass it so you can go racing, go log laps in Jerez without problems and then when Ericsson/Nasr money comes in you can get working on the nose you really wanted.

I´m sure if this car with this nose has a crash we might actually spot the original intended nose underneath.

[Crabbia]

I think it was tomba who commented on the testing thread that the teams have gotten to the stage of diminishing returns with the current regulations. I completely agree with this. As a consequence of this i think the TD's, of all teams, are being very selective about where and which elements of the car they are investing their effort.

In the case of the cash strapped sauber this is the most obvious in the field at the moment, as they had their development disrupted by cash problems. http://www.firstpost.com/sports/racing- ... 84809.html

Allison last year stated that noses arent such a sensitive area. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112348

Sure that was last year and we have seen this year the noses regs are tighter giving less freedom. So this area give very little reward for the required effort.

So in this culture of very focused prioritisation and diminishing returns the nose was and still is near the bottom of the list.



TL/DR
i think its thrifty and wise that they would rather spend money on fixing known and solvable issues with the C33 rather than design and destroy noses 5 times over.

Question: did the frontal impact test requirements change between 2014 and 2015? if they didnt i think its plausible that this could just be a superficial modification to the 2014 nose.

[patrik]

Nasr brings the Banco do Brasilia branding on board and it compliments Ericsson's helmet perfectly!

I think it's no coincidence that the car is blue and yellow and Ericsson is Swedish. It just happens to be BdB's colors too, but a full-car livery? I don't think BdB paid for all that.

[Crabbia]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112348

For what its worth: Nasr is comparing last years merc engine to this years ferrari and says they are similar. Without reading too much into an off the cuff remark, it could be possible that ferrari has closed the engine gap (if only from a driveability stand point) and Sauber will benefit from that.

[Bikeman]

...It´s not to put down Sauber in any way and if it sounded like that i apologize. ...

.. no need to apologize.. .. you're most propably right, that Saubers nose is not the most sophisticated thing on the car.. so eighter they found a very effective nose by 'accident' or the car would even be much faster with a further developed nose or we're just wrong with our thinking. On the back of the car, Sauber got some new ideas on the diffusor, so maybe the impression of reusing the old nose ist wrong. Anyway.. fact is, that Sauber didn't have major problems, did lots of turns and was quiet fast =D>