Track Debut Today for Sauber's new C23

Waiting to drive it
By Jamie Makin (14/1/2004)
January 14 2004

With the glitz and the glamour of Monday's launch in Salzburg behind them, Sauber's intense pre-season testing program for the new C23 will begin today.

Sauber will be the fourth team to run their new car on track this year. McLaren has been running their new MP4-19 since December, while Williams began testing their revolutionary new FW26 last week. Although Jaguar's R5 will not make it's public debut until next week, it ran some straight-line tests in a private session on Monday.

Teams are beginning their new car testing about a month earlier than usual this year due to changes in the technical regulations. The biggest change concerns engines. Instead of being allowed an unlimited number of engines, each driver will now have to make a single engine last an entire race weekend. The penalty for changing a damaged engine is severe by costing the driver ten grid positions for that race. Raw speed will take a back seat to solid reliability in determining a team's success in 2004. The engine reliability issue is further complicated by the points system which rewards consistency over race wins. With these rules in place, teams must begin testing early to ensure their engines can meet the challenge of lasting an entire grand prix weekend. It is interesting to note that Sauber's Petronas-badged Ferrari engine will be put to the test several weeks before Ferrari puts their own new car on the track.

The one-engine rule is also likely to reduce the amount of time teams run their cars during practice sessions on race weekends. The general consensus is that teams will do an absolute minimum number of laps during Friday sessions to minimize the wear on their engines. Most setup work and tyre selection will be done on Saturday mornings in conditions more similar to what the teams will face in qualifying that afternoon. Peter Sauber has decided that unless the team can increase their budget, they will not run a third car at all on Fridays. This reverses his prior decision that the team would run a third car for some, but not all, Friday sessions. This lack of Friday practice and testing will mean that Sauber has to learn the intricacies of their C23 before the start of the season in order to get the proper setup on it quickly with very little track time.

There are also some new aerodynamic challenges brought about by recent rule changes. The maximum number of rear wing elements has been reduced from three to two, greatly reducing down force on the rear of the car. Sauber will have to tweak the down force levels accordingly on all other parts of the car to maintain balanced handling. Other regulation changes permit the rear wing end plates to be extended an additional 100 mm towards the rear of the car, and engine covers may be lengthened as well. The C23 already incorporates both of these changes. Sauber must learn as much as they can about the handling of the C23 through upcoming tests. Their new wind tunnel in Hinwil is currently being calibrated and should be ready for use in February. This will give them the chance to make last minute changes if necessary before the first race in Melbourne.

Speaking at Monday's launch, Peter Sauber outlined his expectations for 2004. "Our goal for 2004 is to clearly increase our performance. How well we’ll be able to do this primarily depends on how quickly we’ll be able to translate the results of our wind tunnel work to the race track," Sauber said, adding that, "Certainly, the presence of seven automotive manufacturers has made the competition in Formula One fiercer than ever, but we’re ready to accept this challenge."

The challenge stems from the lap times of the top teams and bottom teams growing closer together in the last few years. This trend will certainly continue this year. For the first time in their eight year long partnership with Ferrari and Petronas, Sauber will start the season with identical engines as the Ferrari team. They will also use the Scuderia's 7-speed gearbox in the C23 this year. But, countering this advantage is the fact that Jordan and Minardi have made a similar arrangement with Cosworth to use the same spec engines as Jaguar. This closes some gaps in performance between the factory teams and all the privateers, putting increased pressure on Sauber to seek out every possible advantage during upcoming testing.

With all these challenges in store, the C23 will debut on track today and the team will be putting all their efforts into making it as competitive as possible in less than two months' time.