The Sauber F1 Team has announced in a statement that it has extended the contracts of its current drivers, Marcus Ericcson and Felipe Nasr.The Swede and the Brazilian will again form the driver line-up for the Swiss Team in the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship.
I'm yet to be convinced of that. It's not the disaster last year's was, but I'm not sure it's far from it.Miguel wrote:It's not once you take into account teams test with only one car each. Okay, they possibly ran lighter than average in testing for sponsors, but not disgracefully so: this car is far from the disaster last year's car was.
Dust settles? You mean to say that, as the season progresses and millions of dollars are spent in trying to move forward? Yes, you are right that Suaber will go backwards, because Sauber cannot afford it. With whatever they had, THEY PROVED that they have built a better car to start with. This is hypothetical, but may be, if the the RBR dollars are given to Sauber, they may just be able to make a better car than RBR, who knows. And if RBR, TR and (to lesser extent) Lotus cannot move forward, it would be a huge shame on them that they couldn't beat a team that is badly struggling for finances.Moose wrote:Yes, lots of people were getting very excited, and claiming that Sauber had a very fast car - "just look at their testing times, they're fastest or second fastest every day". The people claiming that this was just them doing advertising runs for sponsors were absolutely correct. They absolutely were running light fuel tanks to show impressive times that weren't reflective of their true position.GPR-A wrote:Did anyone, including Sauber, claimed they are going for wins or podiums? Their winter testing form was an evidence that they have moved forward and Ferrari PU has played a big part in that. That was the only fact that is being highlighted, not that they would win a championship or even gain a podium.
And yes, as Phil points out, sauber being 4th or 5th fastest may well be overly generous. When the dust settles we may yet discover that they're slower than RBR and TR, and maybe even Lotus. That would make them faster only than McLaren with big problems and Manor. That would not exactly make this an exciting move forward.
I see your point. On the good side, Nasr was 0.1s away from Q3, and they beat both FI's.Moose wrote:I'm yet to be convinced of that. It's not the disaster last year's was, but I'm not sure it's far from it.Miguel wrote:It's not once you take into account teams test with only one car each. Okay, they possibly ran lighter than average in testing for sponsors, but not disgracefully so: this car is far from the disaster last year's car was.
They're still going to be pooling around near the back. They just got lucky in Australia to get some points in the bag.
Ericsson the successor to Ronnie Peterson....Phil wrote:Found this video on Youtube with some excellent stuff on Sauber, their windtunnel (and Ericsson)
Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agyBvbhKOdc
At least they will battle with them one more race. It should be a totally different situation in Barcelona where I expect to see a great improvement from RB and Mclaren. Any other thing would be an enormous surprise.Miguel wrote:It was good to see another double points finish, yes! Both cars even made it to Q3, which bodes well for tracks like Montmelo and Silverstone. I was less than impressed by their performance in Sepang, though. All in all, given the strength of the Ferrari engine and the struggles of Renault and Honda, it seems their nightmare 2014 is behind them.
So what will be Sauber's final WCC position? Will they score over 50 points? Surprisingly RBR doesn't look massively faster than them, so we could see some nice battles as long as the brake/PU/whatever issues aren't sorted by Milton Keynes' team. Between Lotus, Toro Rosso & Sauber, the midfield will be exciting. Whether RBR, McLaren and Force India solve their issues is another story...
Considering that the upcoming Ferrari PU upgrade should also be available to Sauber for the Spanish GP, Red Bull and the others may not be able to gain much if anything on them...Vasconia wrote:At least they will battle with them one more race. It should be a totally different situation in Barcelona where I expect to see a great improvement from RB and Mclaren. Any other thing would be an enormous surprise.Miguel wrote:It was good to see another double points finish, yes! Both cars even made it to Q3, which bodes well for tracks like Montmelo and Silverstone. I was less than impressed by their performance in Sepang, though. All in all, given the strength of the Ferrari engine and the struggles of Renault and Honda, it seems their nightmare 2014 is behind them.
So what will be Sauber's final WCC position? Will they score over 50 points? Surprisingly RBR doesn't look massively faster than them, so we could see some nice battles as long as the brake/PU/whatever issues aren't sorted by Milton Keynes' team. Between Lotus, Toro Rosso & Sauber, the midfield will be exciting. Whether RBR, McLaren and Force India solve their issues is another story...
Sauber would need to get some aero updates to stay competitive. The car is horrendously slow in the corners and unbalanced on braking.mkable1370 wrote: Considering that the upcoming Ferrari PU upgrade should also be available to Sauber for the Spanish GP, Red Bull and the others may not be able to gain much if anything on them...
