Sauber believes it has one of the best factories in F1
Even though BMW withdrew its stake from Sauber at the end of the 2009 season, the Munich manufacturer left behind high-quality infrastructure, including one of the best wind tunnels in the field. Peter Sauber therefore believes he is well-equipped for the future.
BMW had undertaken significant upgrades to the historic infrastructure in Hinwil to compete for the world title, which translated into a brand new wind tunnel as well as the installation of supercomputers to assist engineers in their development and optimization work.
Peter Sauber thus declared to Autosport: I don’t want to be indiscreet, but I believe that Ferrari and Renault would have significant progress to make to reach the level of our tunnel. I’m not saying that we have the best one. However, I believe that only Toyota had a comparable tunnel. It’s not just the dimensions that are important but also the quality of the wind tunnel.
It is interesting to note that BMW and Toyota have never been able to translate their superior infrastructure performances onto the track, as BMW had to settle for Robert Kubica’s solitary victory in Canada 2008, while Toyota never did better than five second places despite three pole positions. This highlights the importance of employing engineers who can optimally utilize the technical tools at their disposal.
Precisely, from the personnel point of view, Sauber has reduced staff since the departure of the propeller firm to comply with the RRA agreements: « We have a very good infrastructure, which is at a very good level and we do not need to improve anything. We have indeed reduced our staff and I sincerely hope that we can be satisfied with the current number of employees.»
A domain that wasn’t too painful to cut back on was the transmissions and integration department. Indeed, this aspect had been transferred within BMW to optimize the integration of the German engine. When BMW decided to stop, Sauber then turned to its historical engine supplier, namely Ferrari. Now Maranello provides the entire power unit because, in addition to the V6 itself, the Prancing Horse also supplies the transmissions and KERS: «In the past, we developed our own transmission, which made sense. However, after the transmissions were built in Munich for the last three years and we no longer have transmission space in Hinwil, it didn’t make sense to build a new one. From a cost perspective, it was better for us to source from Ferrari, which we’ll continue to do next year. It will be the same for KERS.»
We can therefore observe that these peripheral elements are increasingly concentrated among a limited number of teams since, for example, Williams provides theirs to HRT and Red Bull to Team Lotus. This allows for limiting development costs for some while offering a return of experience and financial benefits for others.
Clearly outpaced by Lotus Renault GP, Peter Sauber’s team is currently battling with Force India for sixth place in the constructors’ championship, as only three points separate the two teams with 35 and 32 points respectively, while Toro Rosso is becoming increasingly pressing with 22 points on the scoreboard.
With the participation of RacingBusiness.fr
