Sauber sitting pretty thanks to tires?
March 9, 2010 by SJ Skid
Filed under Prime & Option
Autosport has an interesting story up — on a day, or couple of days, of really slow news — that suggests the Sauber team could be a bit of a spoiler this season because its car is so easy on tires.
According to Autosport, and by extension Bridgestone, which is behind the study that reveals Sauber’s performance, the team could see a boost in times even at the opening Bahrain race, where tires haven’t been the biggest of factors.
That ability to look after its tyre could prove crucial on two fronts this season – by first of all allowing the team to use a softer tyre than its rivals in Q3, but also in delivering it greater consistency over the course of a race when there will be a premium on looking after the rubber now that refuelling is banned.
Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone’s director of motorsport tyre development, says there is little separating the big four teams in terms of tyre degradation – but Sauber is a different case.
“We have compared many teams’ data and looking at the quick [four] teams – their degradation tendency is very, very similar,” he told AUTOSPORT. “Once they have the 150kg start weight, with both the medium and soft compound, then there is little difference – so we could expect a very close pace. However, Sauber is more consistent.”
The good news for Sauber fans doesn’t seem to shock the team.
BMW Sauber’s technical chief Willy Rampf acknowledged that the C29′s tyre performance was one of its main strengths.
“The car doesn’t have any stability problems, and its performance and balance on high fuel loads is a strong point,” he told AUTOSPORT in an interview. “We will build on this – it’s a very good thing. Our car is not too heavy on its tyres, so we can do reasonable long stints without killing them.
“That will help keep the strategies more flexible, if you’re not forced to stop by tyre wear.”
It looks like we have one more factor to pay attention to this weekend. Are we up to about number 5,002? There’s going to be a ton to follow.
Also, does this mean the team will get some sponsor stickers on its car, finally?
I would defer to comments I have made before about Kobayashi, eg, he sure drove the tires off the Toyota car for someone on a one-stopper last year. I’d be interested if he can execute a tire-friendly strategy considering his aggressive style last year. I’d thus question, at least for his purposes, whether controlled testing results will equate to what will happen when (a) he presses in qualifying or (b) the lights dim on the real race and he starts trying to pass people.
Before they add the sponsors and stickers, perhaps the added weight of the sponsor stickers other teams have explains the added tire wear? I kid.
Didn’t Brawn have this same advantage last season? That came back to bite them in the butt quite a few times when the temperature was lower than they hoped.
We don’t know what fuel loads Sauber were running. I think its going to be very close and their car is very interesting. In the heat of this weekends race it may be beneficial.
I am not so sure thsi will give Sauber a big advantage over technically better cars but might move them to 5th place!