The Sauber C31 was rolled out at Jerez in front of the whole Formula 1 paddock the day before the opening test of the 2012 season. Summarising all the efforts put into developing the new Sauber C31-Ferrari, Chief Designer Matt Morris says: “The C31 is revolutionary where we had fresh ideas, particularly at the rear of the car, and it is an evolution where we knew we could carry over certain approaches.”
The engineers opted again to go with a high chassis design. However, according to the new 2012 regulations, the nose cone needs to be lower, which is a safety requirement. As a result, the nose cone has quite a different shape to how it was in the past.
Packaging was further optimised under the side pods (below) in order to open up more aerodynamic development scope in that area. The cooling layout is based around a similar philosophy to the C30. It helps to get the volume of the coolers forward and allows the design of very compact rear bodywork.
A familiar element of the car is the Ferrari engine, onto which an all-new carbon transmission is bolted – also supplied by Ferrari. The longitudinally mounted transmission is a very tidy, neat unit. The entire rear of the car is much more tightly packaged, and in addition the engineers have gone in some new directions around the floor at the back of the car. At the roll out this area of the car was blocked from view.
Summarising all the efforts put into developing the new Sauber C31-Ferrari, Chief Designer Morris says: “The C31 is revolutionary where we had fresh ideas, particularly at the rear of the car, and it is an evolution where we knew we could carry over certain approaches. We had to improve on the weaknesses we identified on the C30, but at the same time we wanted to maintain its strengths.”
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One of the goals was to increase the scope of the operating envelope compared to its predecessor. “We had established some good directions to go in towards the end of last year with the C30 which we wanted to continue with, particularly some of our DRS developments, and some of the ways we were opting for with the car’s set up in order to improve our qualifying performance without compromising our race pace,” elaborates Morris. The biggest change coming from the new Technical Regulations is that the exhaust position had to be moved away from the floor, which has required quite a new approach.”
Despite continuity in respect of the tyre supplier, Morris also sees new challenges in this area: “We expect quite different tyre characteristics in 2012. Pirelli is in its second year, so is now beginning to refine its compounds and the tyre’s profile. The compounds generally tend to be heading to slightly softer solutions, slightly more biased to a stronger front tyre than last year. This, of course, changes the way you balance the car.”
By an overall tidier design, the front suspension (above) has been optimised for integration with the chassis and the upright. Otherwise it’s a traditional layout with a pushrod and a high-level wishbone. The dampers and springs are packaged quite differently compared to the C30 in order to support a new philosophy for the set-up of the front suspension. The design of the new front wing benefited from directions the engineers were pursuing towards the end of the 2011 season.
Also with the roll-hoop (above) the engineers were able to use the C30’s design (below) as a good baseline, itself inspired by the 2009 Force India solution and managed to improve what was already a lightweight and aerodynamically efficient solution.
Test 1: Jerez
Sauber was the first team to take to the track in Spain (with Lotus not far behind) and this gave the chance to take a close look at some of the cars details.
The C31 was fitted with revised bodywork for its first runs at Jerez, a set of cooling gills appeared just ahead of the exhaust outlet. This will obviously be an area of development for the team as the panel around the exhaust is a removable panel (above).
It is worth noting the ceramic thermal barrier coating applied to the bodywork. This is a very clear indication of the exhaust flow. Interestingly the outside edges of the diffuser also seem to be coated, note also the extra element above the main diffuser supported by swan necks.
The lower element of the rear wing is also supported by a very large swan neck, note also how abruptly the rear of the bodywork stops, reminiscent of the Williams FW33.
The Sauber C31 like the RB8 features an unusual duct on the nose, but it faces in the opposite direction (perhaps an exit duct – for what we do not know). Adrian Newey claims that the very large duct on the RB8 is for driver cooling, Sauber will not be drawn on the purpose of its duct other than saying that there is a lot of development going on in that area. Facing away from the obvious flow of air for it to cool the driver it would rely on there being a low pressure area just behind the hump drawing air into the cockpit. It is likely that there is another function.
Testing allows for a good look at the layout of the C31’s steering wheel.
Sauber experimented with an exhaust exit similar in appearance to the configuration featured on the McLaren MP4-27 in Jerez. There were temperature strips on the rear suspension (not pictured), giving an indication of where the team expects the flow to be travelling.
Test 2: Barcelona
Sauber
It was a straightforward test for Sauber – no noteworthy problems but a programme that excites engineers rather than fans. The car suffered and exhaust problem which interrupted running on one day, as did a broken anti roll bar. Set-up and aero work were conducted, including a comparison between two different rear wings.
The main plane of the rear wing had a revised section with wider sections outboard on one version (above) compare the above version with the below.
With the cold weather in Barcelona (not as cold as Jerez but still cold!) Sauber banked off some of its cooling gills with clear tape.
The new (for Jerez) exhaust position on the C31, has raised cooling issues for the forward element of the upper wishbone. As a result the team have wrapped it in thermal barrier fabric, basically exhaust wrap.
Test 3: Barcelona
The focus at Barcelona was on working with the car under race conditions and also comparing aero components. Finding good race setups for both drivers was also studied though only fully achieved for one of them, Perez. Despite interruptions due to an extraordinary number of red flags in the morning and an hydraulic leak in the late afternoon, it was still a positive day of testing with the Sauber C31-Ferrari according to the team.
Immediately grabbing the attention at Montmelo was the new bridge wing attaching the sidepod turning vane to the centre of the car. It is a more extreme version of the concept on the Red Bull RB8. To call it a wing is not strictly true however it is simply a flow conditioner and is not believed to have a wing profile. It is probable that this concept has something to do with the exhaust design as Red Bull adopted its version when it fitted a C31 style rear. The bridge section likely smooths the flow over the sidepod and down to the crucial area above the diffuser.
At the rear of the car the cooling exit has been revised substantially with a much large aperture, more in the style of recent Red Bull designs (above). Compared to the Jerez and early Barcelona spec rear (below) the difference is clear.
Melbourne
Car 14: Chassis 01
Position: 6th
Driver: Kamui Kobayashi
Car 15: Chassis 03
Position: 8th
Driver: Sergio Perez
Sauber showed that the C31 is a strong chassis, with a very good race result indeed. However a gearbox failure before the race could show signs of a weakness.
Sepang
Car 14: Chassis 01
Position: 6th
Driver: Kamui Kobayashi
Car 15: Chassis 03
Position: 8th
Driver: Sergio Perez
WRi2 supplied us with this very nice close up of the Sauber C31 brake set up. Thr caliper is mounted at the back of the disc. The disc has three interlinked drillings but this design is likely to change depending on the demands of each track.
Looking under the skin of the C31 you can immediately see some of the car layout, the upper impact structure above the sidepod cooler. The exhaust layout is curious coming forward from the collector before turning back on itself and exiting into the distinctive sidepod channels.
The rear end of the C31 features the Ferrari tansmission, the brake calipers are mounted at the bottom of the discs at the rear instead of at the rear as at the front.
The rear end of the C31 was modified for additional cooling in the very high ambient temperatures at Sepang. Additional gills were added alongside the exhaust exits, the bodywork ahead of the rear wheel is of interest.
Shanghai
Car 14: Chassis 01
Position: 10th
Driver: Kamui Kobayashi
Car 15: Chassis 03
Position: 11th
Driver: Sergio Perez
The C31 featured a revised exhaust at Shanghai – with the rear of the sidepod more sculpted and the pipes shape now visible in a bump on the top of the bodywork.
