C31 (Switzerland, 2012)

The Sauber C31-Ferrari is described by the team as being both revolutionary and evolution car.

According to Sauber’s Chief Designer Morris, the team has implemented in the car fresh new ideas, especially in the rear of the car, and this would be where it revolutionary. The part of evolution comes fromm the carrying over of certain approaches and also from the improvements of the weaknesses detected on the C30.

“We had established some good directions to go in towards the end of last year with the C30 which we wanted to continue with, particularly some of our DRS developments, and some of the ways we were opting for with the car’s set up in order to improve our qualifying performance without compromising our race pace,” explained Morris.

The Chief Designer refers that the biggest change has been made on the exhaust position, due to the new Technical Regulations. Having to move it away from the floor Sauber designers and engineers had to create a new approach to it.

Because of safety requirements, written on the new 2012 regulations, the nose cone of the C31 had to be lowered but Sauber still maintained the high chassis design from last year’s car. In terms of design, the nose cone has quite a different shape to how it was in the past.

Engineers and designers have optimized the integration of the front suspension with the chassis and the upright, which resulted in an overall tidier design. The dampers and springs are packaged quite differently compared to the C30 in order to support a new philosophy for the set-up of the front suspension.

The wing of the C30 is the continuation of the directions Sauber’s engineers were pursuing towards the end of the 2011 season.

The centre section of the C31 is basically an evolution of the work done on last year’s C30. Engineers have optimised the packaging under the under the side pods in order to enhance its aerodynamics. The cooling layout as well as roll-hoop and KERS system have also been improved.

At the back the C31 is now a much more tightly packaged vehicle. This was possible thanks to the gearbox design and to the new directions around the floor at the back of the car. Because of the new regulations the exhaust tailpipe positions also affected the overall design of the bodywork.

Morris explains: “Because of the new definition in the rules we know that the disadvantages we had last year with a lack of the strong exhaust effect will be less of an issue for us now. As a result we evolved further our directions from C30 regarding the overall aero development of the car.”