Sauber was the first team to reveal photos of their 2017 challenger today. The Sauber C36 features a special livery that symbolizes a new era for the team, as they enter their 25th season in Formula One. The team was acquired by Longbow Finance last year.
“Together with Longbow Finance S. A., we have great opportunities to be competitive again and to return to previous successes in Formula One,” explained Monisha Kaltenborn, the CEO and Team Principal at Sauber. “We want to position ourselves with a new approach, and we have already taken the first steps in order to build a solid foundation for the future.”
German engineer, Jörg Zander, returned to the team in January of this year as the new technical director, having previously been employed by the team as chief designer when the team held the BMW name in 2006 and 2007. He aided the team in designing that car from the ground up, since the new technical regulations rendered the C35 useless in terms of reusing parts.
Zander explained the new car and new regulations ahead of the 2017 season:
“The cars are becoming wider again, from 1.80 to 2 meters, the tyres are 25 % wider, the front and rear wings are becoming wider as well, plus the diffuser is being enlarged. In total, this means more downforce, more grip and, as a result, faster lap times. We put greater emphasis on aerodynamic stability as opposed to maximizing downforce.”
Sauber has been the first team this season to release actual photos of the 2017 car, starting a busy week filled with car launches. Renault is set to launch their car tomorrow, with Force India on Wednesday and Mercedes on Thursday. McLaren and Ferrari will both be launching their cars on Friday, with Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Haas wrapping up the car launches on Sunday. Williams has no official launch date confirmed yet, although they have already released computer renderings of what their 2017 car will look like.
Zander is sure that the bigger teams will have the advantage with the new regulation changes, but remains optimistic for Sauber in 2017: “Basically, big teams also have an advantage when it comes to major changes in the regulations, but when the cards are reshuffled new opportunities always present themselves as well.”
