Sauber arrives in Monaco with a new floor

Barcelona was a pleasant surprise for Sauber, with Pascal Wehrlein finishing in eighth place, aided by an offset strategy. Nevertheless, Monisha Kaltenborn, the team principal, believes that the German has not yet shown his full potential after the difficult start to the season he experienced: « We need to provide him with the right tools to showcase his potential. That’s what we are currently working on. There are many great things that should come. »

But the four points associated with this eighth place mean that Sauber has been able to widen the gap on Honda, but also that Haas is only five small units behind the Swiss team. However, at the dawn of the sixth race, the team director believes it is still too early to model their strategy on a direct competitor: « We are not focusing on any team, we have our own objectives, which are high. Therefore, it’s about maximizing our potential rather than covering ourselves in relation to someone else. »

In order to strengthen its single-seater, Sauber brings improvements to Monaco, as explained in the Monaco paddock: « What we are bringing is a new floor. We know it’s a very particular circuit but we can use it for the rest of the season. »

However, the team’s initial development plan anticipated that this new part would not arrive in Monaco but rather fifteen days earlier, in Barcelona, like the rest of the grid. However, it required more developments than expected: « The development took more time than expected. We knew that the downside was that we couldn’t produce it in time for Barcelona, but we accepted it. »

The team management has therefore chosen to introduce this upgrade on a circuit where the package is not essential so that the drivers can provide their feedback and feel more comfortable in the car for the rest of the season. Of course, this assumes not being involved in collisions or ending up in the wall.

Indeed, if the team has fallen behind, it’s also because it lost time in manufacturing the parts needed to replace those destroyed during Antonio Giovinazzi’s two off-track incidents at the Chinese Grand Prix: « This is not directly related, but it’s clear that it’s necessary to allocate your resources to deal with such accidents. We could have done without this accident. It was an expensive weekend. » The next wave of development will again be split into two phases, between Silverstone and Budapest.

The former owner of the team does not forget about her second driver, Marcus Ericsson. The Swedish driver’s mindset is exactly what Sauber needs for this year of rebuilding, following last year’s acquisition: Particularly during tough times, you need a driver who doesn’t give up, who supports the team. That’s one of his strong points. But in addition to this quality, he is a remarkable driver. Certainly, things may not have turned in his favor recently, but I have equally high hopes for him.

From our special correspondent in Monaco