F1: New Sauber C31 Unveiled In Jerez

Formula 1

F1: New Sauber C31 Unveiled In Jerez

Sauber showed its new C31 car to the world on Monday morning...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted February 06, 2012 Jerez (ESP)

The Sauber C31 incorporated fresh ideas, particularly at the rear of the car. (Photo: Adam Cooper)

Sauber took the wraps off its new C31 contender at a sunny but chilly Jerez Monday morning.

The car was designed and built under James Key, but the Englishman left his role as technical director last week.

Inevitably, it features the less-than-attractive stepped nose that has quickly become standard for 2012 cars.

Chief designer Matt Morris, the new technical spokesman of the team, said: “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.

“The current plan is to launch a fairly basic roll-out version of the car, which was defined quite some time ago. We will then be testing development parts during the upcoming weeks with a late upgrade for the first race on March 18 in Australia. Therefore, the car will look quite different in Melbourne compared to the roll-out car.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.