2011 end of term report – Sauber Ferrari

The Sauber F1 Team had to work hard to clinch seventh place in this year’s constructors’ championship. It was sixth for a long time but lost a place to Force India in the second part of the season.

Season review

In 2011, the Swiss team took a Mexican flavor with the arrival of Sergio Pérez, Esteban Gutierrez and some important Mexican backing.

Sauber had a good race in Australia – both cars scored points – but was disqualified later on for a technical infringement. Its rear wings were deemed illegal and the team lost ten valuable points. It considered appealing the decision but eventually decided to accept it.

During the first part of the season, Kobayashi and Pérez performed strongly. They occasionally qualified in the top ten and regularly scored points. The team looked in good shape at Monaco but saw Sergio Pérez crashing heavily in qualifying. He subsequently withdrew from the event and also missed the Canadian Grand Prix, where he was replaced by Pedro de la Rosa.

Halfway through the season, Sauber was comfortably in sixth place but Force India soon caught up with the Hinwill-based team as it had stopped developing its blown diffuser. This decision cost Sauber 6th place in the championship and almost lost it 7th place.

In Great-Britain – where the use of the blown diffuser was restricted – Sauber scored six points. It proved more difficult afterwards and the team only scored 11 points in the last 10 races… while it had bagged 27 points in the first six races.

Conclusion

Sauber scored in 2011 as many points as it did in 2010, but moved up one place in the standings. Its best result of the year was Kobayashi’s fifth place at Monaco.

Expectations

Kobayashi and Pérez have been confirmed by the team for 2012. The Swiss outfit will be hoping to do better than in 2011 and might benefit from the new technical regulations.

Highs
—  Scored good points in the first part of the season
—  Two strong drivers
—  Stayed ahead of Toro Rosso

Lows
—  Less competitive in the second half of the season
—  Disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix
—  Double retirement at Monza

Nextgen-Auto.com marks:
— Olivier Ferret : 12/20
— D.Thys : 12/20
— Sandrine Bouchard : 12/20
— Jean-Michel Setbon : 13/20
— Average mark on the forum Nextgen-Auto.com : 12/20
—  Total : 61/100