Pecking order could change again in Europe - Sauber

With the pecking-order still not entirely clear after two races, it could be set to change all over again in the near future.

That is the view of Peter Sauber, the Hinwil based team’s owner and boss who witnessed his Mexican driver Sergio Perez display almost race-winning form at Sepang recently with the impressive new C31 car.

He argues that the real key to 2012 is ongoing car development.

"The decisive factor of course is how quickly can the teams develop their cars," he wrote in his column for the Swiss newspaper Blick.

"Most will have small improvements in the next two races in China and Bahrain, before the major development stages are triggered for the start of the European season in Barcelona.

"Then, the balance of power could change," said Sauber.

Currently fourth in the constructors’ championship, Sauber has after just two races in 2012 already scored almost 70 per cent of the final points tallies collected by the formerly BMW-owned team in the past two seasons.

But not only Sauber has been impressive, so too has almost the entire field of 2012.

"The quality in formula one has never been as great as it is today," he said. "If you don’t get everything right in qualifying, you lose a number of positions.

"Also, the midfield has moved significantly closer to the front, which can mean an unusually mixed order on the grid," said Sauber.