El brutal desgaste de neumáticos que tuvo el Sauber de Pedro de la Rosa, y que al final le apartó de sumar el punto que fue para Schumacher, no se debió a las características del coche. Y tampoco, por supuesto, al fino pilotaje del catalán, especialista en conservar los neumáticos. Después de la carrera el equipo suizo descubrió que tenía el difusor parcialmente roto. Seguramente por un golpe con un bordillo. El coche perdió mucha carga aerodinámica (de ahí los malos tiempos) y también se aumentó exponencialmente el consumo de los neumáticos

Según AS

Según el video de Alguersuari en el simulador de Red Bull, la velocidad maxima en Malasia es 297 km/h, eso puede ser beneficioso para el Sauber.

Se sabe si hay relación entre el daño del difusor de Pedro con el sistema de altura variable de las suspensiones?

De la Rosa: "soy mas optimista en este circuito"
Noticias EFE
Sepang (Malasia), 1 abr (EFE).- Pedro de la Rosa (Sauber-Ferrari) cree que el trazado de Sepang, escenario este fin de semana del Gran Premio de Malasia le conviene mas a su coche y por eso se muestra mas optimista en este circuito.

"Por trazado, aunque tiene dos rectas bastantes largas, luego las curvas son medias rápidas que nos vienen bien, el coche donde va mejor es en curva media rápida, por lo tanto yo soy mas optimista en este circuito y hay menos baches, algo que también es importante".

Añadió que: "mañana sabremos mas, pero yo soy mas optimista, el punto crítico aquí es la refrigeración del motor, cuanto tienes que abrir o recortar la aerodinámica para refrigerar el motor. Si tienes que hacer cortes muy grandes en los pontones laterales o en el capó motor, pierdes mucha carga aerodinámica, este problema lo van a tener todos los equipos".

De la Rosa, que se quedó a en las puertas de sumar su primer punto en la presente temporada la semana pasada en Australia dijo que: "a todo el mundo le gusta este circuito, porque es de ritmo, de poco freno y mucho gas, de mucha velocidad de paso por curva, no es fácil y es duro".
Señaló que: "después de dos carreras se ha visto ya bastante donde está cada uno, lo que está claro es que los coches que van bien aquí son los que van bien en curva rápida".

Sobre el "conducto F", que dirige el aire al alerón trasero para aumentar la velocidad en la recta, dijo que: "nosotros volveremos mañana a probar una versión mejorada del de Australia, para poder introducirlo lo antes posible, no sabemos si lo podremos usar el sábado o el domingo, pero lo que si está claro es que el viernes es el único día que lo podemos probar y hay que probar todo y mejorar el sistema, porque dentro de podo lo tendrá todo el mundo".

Confesó De la Rosa que esta idea comenzó a estudiarse en Mclaren: "desde la primavera del año pasado, es un sistema difícil de hacer funcionar, no hay que infravalorar el trabajo que hay detrás para conseguir ahogar el alerón trasero cuando quieres, es muy difícil" y añadió que: "el primero que lo probó fui yo"

Siguió explicando que: "antiguamente los equipos intentaban hacer esto con la elasticidad del alerón, entonces la FIA introdujo los topes y aumentaron las pruebas de rigidez de los alerones, con lo que ahora la única manera de hacerlo es de una manera activa, con el piloto interactuando, porque el piloto no se considera parte del coche, por eso es legal el sistema".

Pues ale, si Pedro lo dice...

Sauber to test revised F-duct

By Jonathan Noble Thursday, April 1st 2010, 07:57 GMT

Sauber f-ductSauber will run a revised version of its F-duct in practice again at the Malaysian Grand Prix, as the outfit pushes hard to get the system working properly for racing.

The Swiss-based outfit was the first to adopt the McLaren-pioneered system in Australia, which helps stall the rear wing on the straights for a top-speed advantage when the driver closes off a vent in the cockpit.

Although the team only ran it in first practice in Melbourne, it is hoped that revisions made to it for Sepang has left it close to being given the green light to stay on the car for the whole weekend.

Pedro de la Rosa said: "We will run it tomorrow, to continue the testing. It is a modified version and we are trying to get on top of it.

"It is not an easy system to make it work and they have been working very hard in Hinwil to get some modifications in time - and we will see tomorrow.

"We will react accordingly. If it works, fine. If it doesn't we will wait for another grand prix. But we are pushing 100 per cent on this."

De la Rosa believes the Sauber C29 should be more competitive in Malaysia than it has been in the first two races of the season especially after a damaged floor hindered his pace and cost him points in Australia.

"I think that the result was disappointing," he said. "We should have been able to score some points, but having said that, for us to score points is going to be very difficult at the moment.

"We are in that position where we are just outside the top 10, so it is very difficult for us to make the next step, and that is why Australia was a missed opportunity. We did everything right, we did a good start, we kept out of trouble, we were running quite high up there and unfortunately it didn't work out. Now we come here, it is a different track but should us a little bit better."


Q & A with Pedro de la Rosa

By Jonathan Noble Thursday, April 1st 2010, 08:04 GMT
Pedro de la Rosa missed out on his first point of the season in Australia when he was passed in the closing laps by Michael Schumacher and Jaime Alguersuari while struggling on worn tyres.

But the Spaniard is enjoying his return to Formula 1 racing and is confident that his Sauber team will be stronger in Malaysia than it was in the first two races.

AUTOSPORT heard his thoughts on Melbourne, the controversial Red Bull ride height issue, Sauber's F-duct development and his hopes for the weekend ahead.

Q. You came close to scoring points in the Australian Grand Prix. What happened at the end of the race when your pace dropped off?

Pedro de la Rosa: There were many, many things we could argue about - but basically I damaged the car running over several kerbs. The floor of the car was not working as it should, which cost us downforce and helped degrade the tyres a little more.

Having said that, it was tough. It was always going to be difficult to get a point there, because other people were coming very quickly with fresher tyres. But had we kept the car in one piece, I am pretty certain that I would have been able to fight a bit stronger for the last points.

Anyway, that is how it was. I was pushing 100 per cent, using the kerbs as much as I could, but I damaged the car in the meantime. And when you lose downforce, the tyres suffer especially if you are on a one-stop strategy.

Q. Did you know that you had damaged the floor?

PDR: No. I could tell that the car was very difficult to drive and that the rear end was weak. But I didn't go off once in particular, I was just running over some exit kerbs lap after lap and that is what damaged the car.

Q. Do you think if you had changed tyres that the result would have been different?

PDR: Well, if we would have planned to change the tyres before then maybe. But the moment you follow other people's strategy, then you are dead. That is why I think the team did the right thing to stick to the one-stop strategy and run until the end. It didn't work out. I didn't help damaging the floor, but this is racing. You have to push 100 per cent. We are not in a position of taking it easy.

Q. Do you think the result reflects the performance of the car at the moment?

PDR: I think that the result was disappointing. We should have been able to score some points, but having said that, for us to score points is going to be very difficult at the moment. We are in that position where we are just outside the top 10, so it is very difficult for us to make the next step, and that is why Australia was a missed opportunity.

We did everything right, we did a good start, we kept out of trouble, we were running quite high up there and unfortunately it didn't work out. Now we come here, it is a different track but should us a little bit better.

Q. What is it about this track that suits your car?

PDR: I think that the two very important things are that there are a lot of medium and high-speed corners that suit our car, and then it is certainly a lot less bumpy a track than Bahrain and Australia. I am always a very optimistic person and I think this track should suit us more.

Q. Will the high temperatures benefit you as well?

PDR: We don't have any warm-up issues with the tyres. The question is really how it will affect other teams, in terms of how much they have to cut their bodywork for cooling. That is always critical here as some teams are able to run very close. Others have to open more the bodywork and lose the downforce, so that is basically the question we will answer in the next few days.

Q. Where are you in this range?

PDR: We are in the middle. I don't think we are that bad, but the fact that the car, in winter testing, when we had high-speed corners we were always competitive there. So that is why I am more optimistic here.

Q. Are you running your F-duct this weekend?

PDR: We will run it tomorrow, to continue the testing. It is a modified version and we are trying to get on top of it.

Q. But it may take quite a while to get it on the car?

PDR: It is not an easy system to make it work and they have been working very hard in Hinwil to get some modifications in time and we will see tomorrow. We will react accordingly. If it works, fine. If it doesn't we will wait for another grand prix. But we are pushing 100 per cent on this.

Q. Are you one of the teams that are concerned about how Red Bull Racing is working its suspension?

PDR: No. I have heard the rumours flying around on this scenario, but we are not concerned about rumours to be honest. I don't know exactly what they are doing, or if they are doing anything, or if they can do anything.

Q. Lewis Hamilton has called the Red Bull Racing advantage 'insane'. Have you been close to the cars at any time to have a judgement on it?

PDR: I think they are the most stable car in the corners that is clear when you look at the on-board cameras or how quick they are through the corners. They are definitely the car that is more stable in low-speed, high-speed corners. But they also pay the price on the straights, so I don't think that they have a very big advantage.

They just have a very, very quick car in the corners but they are vulnerable on the straights while other teams follow a different strategy. The McLaren is the fastest car on the straights but they pay the price in the corners so I think overall they have a small advantage but it is not enormous at all.

Q. So how do you have a car that is grounding and sparking in qualifying, but then has 160kg of fuel added?

PDR: I really don't know. We have other issues, really. I don't know what they are doing. As far as we are concerned, we just have to work on our car as much as we can, but we obviously are not changing anything from qualifying to the race because ride height should be fixed.

We don't know what they are doing and to be honest I don't really care. We just have to maximise what we have but it could be they are doing nothing. They have a plank, they wear the plank the first few laps, they are sparking and that is it.

Q. This is one of the toughest tracks physically. Have you done anything special to prepare for the weekend?

PDR: No, nothing special. Just be here as soon as possible I was here on Monday and spent as much time as possible outside, not in the air conditioning. That is the only thing you can do, train outside, walk outside, eat outside and spend time in the heat.

Q. You have come back to racing this year like Michael Schumacher, and he has said he feels a bit rusty. How have you found it?

PDR: I found myself in a very good shape actually. I was quite surprised. When we started testing in the winter, the first time in Valencia was tough. Then we went to Jerez, a proper race track, and the first day I realised I had to build up a little bit from here. Racing itself has been very easy to me the starts for example; I have felt very much at home.

The last grand prix was fantastic. The start of the race with inters, having to switch to slicks, going out in the wet track I went behind Lewis after the pitstop and I remember coming out of the pitlane and thinking, 'look, this is possibly the quickest guy on the planet in semi-dry conditions, so let's see how we do'. I could follow him the first few laps out in semi wet/dry conditions and I was very proud. I realised I am there... I am back.

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-...er-1807444.html

F1: Sauber remains calm



"Malaysia is not inevitable race"

The Sauber team is still there with no points. Team boss Peter Sauber but refuses to consider an interim already. It recognized two races still to early. Therefore, one could also in Malaysia GP yet speak of a race destiny.

It had Peter Sauber differently. Zero points for your team, but three of his fellow competitors have already properly championship points in the account. Renault Robert Kubica for second place in Australia equal to 18, Force India and Williams eight five.

No quick fixes for Sauber

"That worries me, of course," said Sauber. Nevertheless, can the 66-year-old Swiss is not pushed into the corner: "It is too early for snap shots. There is so much new to this team and the rules that you can only draw in Barcelona take stock." Sauber will await the race in Malaysia and China. Two tracks that would have to be the Sauber C29 really pulls you up the test drives in the winter as a benchmark.

Fast curves, little bumps - there would have a car to go well, that produced in a particular window on the ground freedoms very much downforce. But Sauber remains skeptical of such forecasts: "In the past, Melbourne and a course that is always conveniently located. Of this last week I have felt nothing."

Sauber worse than when tested

After all, the question is allowed, why Renault, Williams and Force India are now available Clean, although the test results say otherwise. "The other test results have not been implemented better. We are worse than for the tests. It's not easy to assess why this is so." Fate of a race does the man who has his team back after four years of part-time pension do not talk back. "I know the formula 1 since 1993. Today, I know them very much better than then. I was always clear that we are facing a difficult task."

A race does not make a summer. But the currency in that sport are results. The need can also be Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi hold. Peter Sauber takes them still in protection: "There were reasons to take the two drivers, and in which up to now has not changed. Of course, a driver in our selection includes options is always a certain risk."

"As I had never been away"

And how experienced the second-oldest team boss Frank Williams after the race on the pit wall? Sauber is still undecided: "It is difficult to say whether it feels different. It seems to me as if I had never been away. There is one difference, however, and it allows me, the whole deal more relaxed. It are now in a Hinwil Board, to which I can trust who does the daily business for me. And that's very much. "

When Peter Sauber will race from the home he is not as it used in the factory. He sits in his office in Pfäffikon. Because he can be sure that the store home runs.

Peter Sauber
"Sure, I'm worried"
One day before the first practice session for the Malaysian GP. Team boss Peter Sauber (66) talks in the cool Hauptquertier Blick.ch with plain text.
Updated By Roger Benoit from Kuala Lumpur | 09:58 | 01.04.2010

Outside in the paddock, it is hot, 36 degrees and humid. Peter Sauber: "I do not know if this race brings to us a turn. Quick fixes and site rules bingen after two races yet. A first major balance sheet, we must start at the front of the 9th Euro- May in Barcelona draw. Now it just does not make sense. Much is new. As a team, with the rules. "

Prevails in Hinwil after two races without points is not even alarm, because in the big three direct opponents have collected many Defense counter?

PS: Sure, I'm a little concerned that Renault, Force India and Williams are already far ahead of us. In testing this all looked very different. But now it appears that you attach to the results in testing may not be very significant. I must admit, we are now clearly less than in tests in Spain. And we have no easy task ahead of us!

Make Peter Sauber driver Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi worry?

There is currently no reason to talk about the pilot. But there were reasons before the season to select these two drivers. And who knows the formula 1, which knows that the driver selection always involves a risk.

Many Sauber fans are now disappointed and dissatisfied, what do you say?

Our supporters must, like all of us in the team, just a little exercise in patience. We work very hard to get into gear. And as I said, we still need more time.

Repent their step, after four years as a team partner of BMW-Sauber again to have the sole and as General of the pit stand?

This question must be me maybe in a few months or even longer provide. Why do I look at the matter more calmly now is the fact that we have in Hinwil a Board, to which I can count full. This reassured. I do not necessarily work in Hinwil. The fact that I can do from my office in Pfäffikon, or from home.

http://www.blick.ch/sport/formel1/klar-bin...unruhigt-143898

Pedro tambien lo era para Australia y mira el resultado. No creo que el Sauber cambie su rendimiento en este circuito. Toca sufrir y esperar a la llegada de los circuitos europeos.

Soy yo... o lo destacado en negrita no suena del todo bien. ??¿¿

Todo paranoias, KIT.

(Léase con ironía).

A mí hay declaraciones, que sigo sin entenderlas, en este caso, sin tapujos se refiere directamente a sus pilotos. Y de nuevo, ambigüedad. ¿Tardará mucho en echarlos a los leones? De momento, dice que no hay razón para mirar hacia los pilotos (menos mal), de momento... veremos cuanto tarda en girar su vista sobre ellos.

Cada vez que leo declaraciones de Sauber yo alucino más. ¿Realmente alguien engañó a Peter Sauber con los entrenos de pretemporada o simplemente se durmieron en los laureles tanto? "Mi no entender" tanta sorpresa por los resultados. Que la tengamos nosotros... pero que la tenga Peter Sauber.

Estemos o nosotros preocupados, el que sí lo está es desde luego Peter Sauber... ¡y llevamos dos carreras! Será que nadie mejor que él sabe que las temporadas siempre le fueron bien cuando tuvo una buena base y sumó puntos desde el inicio ante el empuje de otras escuderías con más recursos...

Sobre el F-Duct Pedro parece muy confiado en él, no creo que sea descabellado pensar que ahora mismo sea uno de sus grandes valedores dentro del equipo. Esperemos que le salga bien la jugada, y puedan usarlo ya en Malasia con esa versión modificada.

Yo creo que es un poco al contrario pero sin mojarse, dice algo así:

Actualmente no hay motivo para hablar de los pilotos. Hubieron razones antes de la temporada para seleccionar a estos pilotos. Quién conoce la f1 sabe que la elección de los pilotos siempre implica cierto riesgo.

Lógicamente si le preguntan por los pilotos él debe contestar, no va a decir que hoy hace sol y esta tarde echará la primitiva. No me gusta como está el patio pero tampoco saquemos las cosas de contexto siempre.

Ayrton he editado mi mensaje, suponía que levantaría suspicacias.

Para no mojarse, y respaldar el trabajo de los pilotos, lo más sencillo hubiera sido decir que han hecho todo lo que han podido, o simplemente, que siguen siendo la elección correcta igual que lo eran hace dos meses. Sencillo. Insisto, no les pone en el disparadero de momento, pero sus palabras denotan cierta ambigüedad fruto del nerviosismo reconocido por él mismo.

Esto tiene """fácil"""" solución : sumar puntos.

A mí me está sorprendiendo mucho Peter Sauber, no lo tenía como un jefe de equipo que se despachaba ante los medios de comunicación.

En primer lugar, gracias por toda la informacion, Yossi.

En segundo, Kit, tranquilo, yo no veo nada raro Ademas, Saueber tiene que hacer ver a "todo el equipo" que tiene que mejorar.

En tercer lugar, destacar varias palabras de Pedro, principalmente "yo soy optimista......." y que el coche ira mejor o deberia ir mejor en Malasia.


PD: Si Pedro es optimista, desmosle un margen y seamoslo nosotros tambien......¿quien se apunta?. Yo lo hago cada dia

Precisamente a ese apartado me refería... me suena a "justificación" ante los malos resultados, no sé ... no me ha acabado de gustar.... no problem, puede que sea cosa mía

Y tampoco quiero parecer negativo, tampoco me encuentro grave decir eso... pero sí parece un toque de atención.

Poneos por un momento en la piel de Peter Sauber, es normal q le pida el 110% a los pilotos, es fundamental llegar a Europa con puntos de cara al patrocinio.
Pero si en verdad hay alguna crítica, creo q va más encaminada a Kobayashi q a Pedro.

Si hay criticas a los pilotos, seguramente sean hacia Koba, a mi parecer no lo esta haciendo bien. Me esperaba mas de el, como siga asi sera el tipico piloto kamikaze japones (vease Ide, Nakajima....), solo que un poco mas rapido (vamos, el nuevo Sato). Aunque bueno, tiene tiempo para mejorar.

Por cierto, se sabe algo de James Key?? En teoria sera el director tecnico de Sauber en Sepang no??

PD: Yo me apunto al optimismo!!!

Pues a mi esta respuesta me sorprende... y me deja más preocupado de lo que estaba; era el momento de reforzar la confianza de los pilotos, limpiar los trapos sucios dentro de casa y generar un buen ambiente de trabajo. Pues no, todo lo contario, vuelve a sembrar la duda sobre los pilotos... me da la sensación que, en el caso de Pedro, defendió contra viento y marea su elección ante otros miembros de equipo, y ahora empieza a justificarse.

Era la ocasión perfecta para decir "estamos muy contentos con los pilotos, están trabajando bien", aunque piense todo lo contrario. No son paranoias de interpretación; la pregunta era clarísima, y la respuesta podría haber sido contudente e inequívoca... y ha sido que no. Estoy decepcionado con Sauber.

O rascamos en Malasia o la llegada a Europa va a ser mu, muy, complicada.