| By Gary Anderson | |
| Technical Consultant |
Sauber is probably the team that has the most to gain from Formula 1's regulation changes for 2017. Over the past couple of years, it has struggled for budget, which has led to a lack of developments and a lot of time spent at the rear of the field. It was only the wet race at Interlagos that brought Sauber its vital first points finish of last year, which allowed it to move ahead of Manor into 10th in the constructors' championship. That also brought with it a decently-sized cheque, which could be put together with the investment from new ownership to employ some much-needed, more experienced design staff. After seeing the early renderings of the new Williams last week, I was a bit worried that the 2017 cars would mostly be a cut-and-paste exercise based on the previous models. But Sauber seems to have found some extra areas to optimise. FRONT WING AND NOSE The close-up view of the front wing shows the effort the teams are having to go to to turn the airflow around the outside of the wider front tyres.
If this airflow hits the front tyre and disperses around the sides and over the top of it, it will create lift on the top surface of the tyre and lots of turbulence on the inside of the wheel, which will adversely affect the performance of the underfloor. The front wing itself is the now-common multi-element design. This is to keep the airflow separation problems under control, in effect ensuring the consistency of downforce. The nose follows very similar lines to the Williams, retaining the 'thumb tip' design Sauber has used for the last two years. This is because the position of the cross-sectional areas for the impact tests are well defined in the regulations. This leads to the low nose, because it's the obvious solution. SIDEPODS The sidepods are very sculptured at both the leading edge and the Coke bottle area to the inside of the rear tyres. But it looks like Sauber is not using the maximum width possible.
This would be to allow the Coke bottle to help pull the airflow around the sidepod and in effect scavenge the airflow from under the front of the chassis. The airflow is so joined up along the length of the car, that the Coke bottle also has a significant influence on the performance of the front wing. The regulations for 2017 allow for more prominent barge boards. This, with the sidepod undercut, works on the airflow coming underneath the front of the chassis and helps scavenge the airflow coming off the trailing edge of the front wing. It also helps control the airflow going under the leading edge of the side pods, so if it is working correctly the barge board is a very influential component. AIR INTAKE AND ENGINE COVER The air intake is split with the main roll bar structure being central, which we have seen a few teams experiment with in recent years, including Mercedes. This allows the cross section of the outer sides to be thinner, which will help with the airflow to the rear wing - especially when the airbox can't cope with any more airflow and it starts to spill around the sides.
Sauber has gone back to the reduced cross section engine cover with a central fin. This was common a few years ago, but in the interests of aesthetics the FIA came up with a dimensional regulation to eliminate it. For 2017, this seems to have been missed. The fin helps with the airflow coming off the engine cover when the car is in yaw. This improves the performance of the rear wing mid-corner, which is just where you need the most consistent rear downforce. However I'm not so sure it is as effective on a windy day! Underneath that engine cover is a 2016 Ferrari engine - albeit the end-of-season Abu Dhabi GP spec that Sauber didn't run last year. Sauber has gone for this now out of date package because it felt that understanding how to get the best out of it and having a better idea about the packaging ahead of time was an advantage. But as we saw last year with Toro Rosso taking a similar route, as the season goes on, that could make things increasingly difficult. The team is also expecting an early-season reliability advantage from taking this route, and it also means Sauber is not paying top price for something that in reality it may not be able to make best use of, but it is a gamble. REAR WING
The rear wing endplates have an angled trailing edge. Most teams have louvres in the lower area of the end plate to help the low pressure area behind the rear tyre to 'talk' to the trailing edge of the diffuser. If these two work together it will help scavenge the airflow from underneath the car, creating more downforce from the underfloor and diffuser. Sauber has opened this area up significantly, it will be interesting to see who else goes down this route. SUSPENSION The front suspension is the conventional pushrod setup. The launch pictures don't show the rear, but I assume it will be the normal pullrod. The suspension emphasis will be on what we don't see and how all the teams will adapt to the FIA's potential re-interpretation of how the aerodynamic platform control system will work. Looks can be deceiving, but overall the new Sauber appears to be a major step forward from what the team had during a difficult 2016 season. To me it looks like a good base to start from.
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| By Gary Anderson | |
| Technical Consultant |
Sauber is probably the team that has the most to gain from Formula 1's regulation changes for 2017. Over the past couple of years, it has struggled for budget, which has led to a lack of developments and a lot of time spent at the rear of the field. It was only the wet race at Interlagos that brought Sauber its vital first points finish of last year, which allowed it to move ahead of Manor into 10th in the constructors' championship. That also brought with it a decently-sized cheque, which could be put together with the investment from new ownership to employ some much-needed, more experienced design staff. After seeing the early renderings of the new Williams last week, I was a bit worried that the 2017 cars would mostly be a cut-and-paste exercise based on the previous models. But Sauber seems to have found some extra areas to optimise. FRONT WING AND NOSE The close-up view of the front wing shows the effort the teams are having to go to to turn the airflow around the outside of the wider front tyres.
If this airflow hits the front tyre and disperses around the sides and over the top of it, it will create lift on the top surface of the tyre and lots of turbulence on the inside of the wheel, which will adversely affect the performance of the underfloor. The front wing itself is the now-common multi-element design. This is to keep the airflow separation problems under control, in effect ensuring the consistency of downforce. The nose follows very similar lines to the Williams, retaining the 'thumb tip' design Sauber has used for the last two years. This is because the position of the cross-sectional areas for the impact tests are well defined in the regulations. This leads to the low nose, because it's the obvious solution. SIDEPODS The sidepods are very sculptured at both the leading edge and the Coke bottle area to the inside of the rear tyres. But it looks like Sauber is not using the maximum width possible.
This would be to allow the Coke bottle to help pull the airflow around the sidepod and in effect scavenge the airflow from under the front of the chassis. The airflow is so joined up along the length of the car, that the Coke bottle also has a significant influence on the performance of the front wing. The regulations for 2017 allow for more prominent barge boards. This, with the sidepod undercut, works on the airflow coming underneath the front of the chassis and helps scavenge the airflow coming off the trailing edge of the front wing. It also helps control the airflow going under the leading edge of the side pods, so if it is working correctly the barge board is a very influential component. AIR INTAKE AND ENGINE COVER The air intake is split with the main roll bar structure being central, which we have seen a few teams experiment with in recent years, including Mercedes. This allows the cross section of the outer sides to be thinner, which will help with the airflow to the rear wing - especially when the airbox can't cope with any more airflow and it starts to spill around the sides.
Sauber has gone back to the reduced cross section engine cover with a central fin. This was common a few years ago, but in the interests of aesthetics the FIA came up with a dimensional regulation to eliminate it. For 2017, this seems to have been missed. The fin helps with the airflow coming off the engine cover when the car is in yaw. This improves the performance of the rear wing mid-corner, which is just where you need the most consistent rear downforce. However I'm not so sure it is as effective on a windy day! Underneath that engine cover is a 2016 Ferrari engine - albeit the end-of-season Abu Dhabi GP spec that Sauber didn't run last year. Sauber has gone for this now out of date package because it felt that understanding how to get the best out of it and having a better idea about the packaging ahead of time was an advantage. But as we saw last year with Toro Rosso taking a similar route, as the season goes on, that could make things increasingly difficult. The team is also expecting an early-season reliability advantage from taking this route, and it also means Sauber is not paying top price for something that in reality it may not be able to make best use of, but it is a gamble. REAR WING
The rear wing endplates have an angled trailing edge. Most teams have louvres in the lower area of the end plate to help the low pressure area behind the rear tyre to 'talk' to the trailing edge of the diffuser. If these two work together it will help scavenge the airflow from underneath the car, creating more downforce from the underfloor and diffuser. Sauber has opened this area up significantly, it will be interesting to see who else goes down this route. SUSPENSION The front suspension is the conventional pushrod setup. The launch pictures don't show the rear, but I assume it will be the normal pullrod. The suspension emphasis will be on what we don't see and how all the teams will adapt to the FIA's potential re-interpretation of how the aerodynamic platform control system will work. Looks can be deceiving, but overall the new Sauber appears to be a major step forward from what the team had during a difficult 2016 season. To me it looks like a good base to start from.
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