By Phil Huff
February 9 2003

The new Sauber Petronas C22 is a completely new car and not an evolution of its predecessor, the new Sauber challenger being a radical departure from last year's C21 design. The C22 hit the road on January 13th at the Barcelona race track for the first time and proved since then to be reliable.

Peter Sauber and his team decided to take a huge aerodynamic step forward and are looking to challenge consistently for points in 2003. Therefore they have changed almost everything to create the C22.

The new team's in-house wind tunnel was not operational at the time the car was designed and built but the Swiss-based team counts on it to make major improvements in the near future.

Technical data

Official designation Chassis Engine Suspension Brakes Transmission Chassis Electronics Tyres Wheels

Sauber Petronas C22 Carbon fibre monocoque Petronas 03A Upper and lower wishbones (front and rear) Inboard springs and dampers, actuated by pushrods (Sachs Race Engineering) Six piston callipers (front and rear) Carbon pads and discs (Brembo) Longitudinally mounted, seven-speed transmission (Sauber) Carbon clutch (Sachs Race Engineering) Magneti Marelli Bridgestone 265/55R13 front, 325/45R13 rear OZ 12J-13 front, 13.7J-13 rear

Length Width Height Front Track Rear Track Wheel base Weight

4470 mm 1800 mm 1000 mm 1470 mm 1410 mm 3100 mm 600 kg (Driveable car including driver, tank empty)

The Petronas Engine

The 03a engine is using Petronas lubricant and fuel Team Sauber Petronas is continuing its six-year co-operation with Ferrari. In Maranello, approximately 40 new engines will be built for Sauber Petronas throughout the season. The new engine in the Sauber Petronas C22 is more powerful and lighter than its predecessor. Furthermore, it has a lower gravity centre.

The Petronas 03A is based on the Ferrari works engine (to its development stage in mid-September 2002), which allowed Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello to totally dominate the Formula One World Championship in the past year.

Osamu Goto, Head of Sauber Petronas engine department: "The Petronas 03A is a very competitive engine and well integrated into the C22." Already by the end of the 1990s, Petronas, the national oil and gas corporation of Malaysia, had developed its own lubricant which was further developed to suit the Formula One engine and has been used by the team since 2000 as "Syntium". In 2003, the fuel that Petronas has developed in co-operation with engineers of Sauber Petronas Engineering (SPE) will be used in Formula One. "We are confident that our new fuel will be as successful as our lubricant Syntium", maintains Dr. Hamzah Abdul Hamid, General Manager Special Projects, Corporate Planning and Development of Petronas.

Technical Data

Official designation Number of cylinders Cubic capacity Cylinder block No of main bearings Number of camshafts Number of valves Valve mechanism Ignition system Injection system

PETRONAS 03A V10 2997 cc Aluminium 6 4 OHC Camshaft drive interlocked 40 pneumatic Magneti Marelli Magneti Marelli