And here’s the Sauber

January 31, 2011 by Joe Saward

Peter Sauber has launched his team’s 19th season in Formula 1, with the unveiling of the Sauber-Ferrari C30 in Valencia. The Swiss team had a tough year in 2010 after BMW’s decision to quit the sport and its failure to find a buyer to keep the team alive. Sauber stepped in at the 11th hour to save the day and ensure that his staff were not left unemployed.

“We managed to overcome these difficulties in the second half of the season,” Sauber said. “We implemented some well-considered structural changes. The appointment of James Key as Technical Director already bore fruit last season, and he is now in charge of development of the Sauber C30-Ferrari. At the same time, we have managed to secure our business foundation for the 2011 season. In these economically straitened times that is something we can be proud of too.”

The team has found support from Mexican telecommunications company Telmex, and various brands which it owns, plus a number of Mexican companies that have decided to follow Telmex’s lead, most recently José Cuervo tequila. There remains plenty of white space on the cars to be filled when sponsors can be found. The fastest way to attract money is to be competitive and so the team’s goal has been to concentrate on creating the fastest possible car for Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez.

The C30 has been designed to meet the new rules and the new Pirelli tyres but otherwise aims to get rid of the weaknesses of the 2010 car.

“In order to take a step forward in 2011, we were already systematically tackling the C29’s weaknesses over the last season – and we’ve made progress,” says James Key. “The insights we gleaned were taken into account when the concept for the new C30 was being drawn up. Since some of the changes decreed by the regulations – particularly regarding the tyres – can only be analysed out on track, it was important for us to build, firstly, a fundamentally predictable car and, secondly, one that would provide sufficient flexibility to respond to ongoing findings at the track and during further development stages.”

Posted in F1 Teams | 12 Comments

12 Responses

on January 31, 2011 at 11:11 Jack

god it’s even whiter than last year. Hopefully by the time the season starts it’ll just say ‘TEQUILLA!!!’ down both flanks
on January 31, 2011 at 11:24 Robert McKay

I like it, looks great…

Nice to see some sponsors logos on it as well, even if there’s still space for more…
on January 31, 2011 at 12:08 thewizardweb

It seems in the cuts following BMW pulling out, they let go of the livery designer. I would have thought that if a car looks good and has a cohesive livery design, it’s more attractive to potential sponsors. As opposed to giving the impression that your stickers will be slapped somewhere on the car…

However, it’s how the car runs that’s important and a winning car always looks good ! Mind you this is Sauber… they’d best get working on the livery….
on January 31, 2011 at 13:18 Aleksey D.

Nice livery trick: let’s make Japanese flag on car made out of tequila logo!
on January 31, 2011 at 14:51 Scotty smith

The scheme is such a shame. I think the car is a good step forward in terms of looks but the graphics are terrible!Apprently Mr Sauber himself organised / controlled the placement of the sponsors (at the eleventh hour) and there is no involvement from anyone with some graphic design flair ….. it shows ! Lets hope she is fast !
on January 31, 2011 at 15:20 Ash

I like it. So nice to see some sponsors on that car.

And I actually kind of like the somewhat haphazard, bung-a-sticker-on-anywhere-it-fits approach. With Jose Cuervo and (hopefully) Corona on there as well, it will look fantastic. I’ve grown a little sick of the corporate one-colour, unified color scheme. It looked great when Williams and McLaren pioneered it, but now that every team on the grid is doing it, it just looks bland and uninspired.

Kamui better start learning some Spanish to go with the Japanese, English, French and German…
on January 31, 2011 at 15:36 David Hodge

Nice to see a few sponsors on the car rather than just a BurgerKing logo.
on January 31, 2011 at 16:33 NA

Still the best looking wheels of any car, love those.
on January 31, 2011 at 17:24 Andy H

Good job Sauber and all the best for the future.
I hope they do well and have a moment of glory this year.
on January 31, 2011 at 17:52 Steven Roy

I am surprised how little Telmex branding is on th car
on January 31, 2011 at 18:36 Ash

Steven Roy–

Telcel and Claro are Carlos Slim ventures as well.
on February 1, 2011 at 00:59 Steven Roy

Ash,

Thanks. I figured Telcel would be but I had no idea about Claro. I was expecting more or less full Telmex branding.

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