By pitpass.com (12/1/2004)
January 12 2004

Those who expected the Sauber C23 to be anything like as radical as the WilliamsF1 FW26 were in for a big disappointment in Salzburg tonight. Once the theatrics were over and the covers removed the general consensus of opinion is that the Swiss outfit's 2004 contender is a trifle conservative, though team boss Peter Sauber opted for the word 'pragmatic'.

Just one week after Patrick Head revealed that he had finally taken F1 journalist Tom Rubython's advice and adopted the twin-keel, Sauber revealed that it had ditched the concept.

Indeed at a time when the finger of suspicion is being pointed in Toyota's direction for the similarity its 2003 car bears to the 2002 World Championship winning Ferrari, the C23 bears more than a few similarities to the Maranello outfit's 2003 title winner. That said, the Swiss car will be using the latest spec Ferrari engine and gearbox.

"It is smaller and lighter and I hope also faster," said team boss Sauber. "Our goal for 2004 is to clearly increase our performance. "How well we'll be able to do this primarily depends on how quickly we can translate the results of our wind tunnel work to the race track.

"With seven works teams supported by global automotive corporations taking part in the series, the competition in Formula One has become tougher than ever," he admitted.

Those attending the launch were surprised to hear that the C23 has failed the mandatory FIA crash test, though technical director Willy Rampf believes the car will pass when it is tested again later this month.

"We have tried to make everything smaller and I think we paid the price for it," he said. "The 2003 season soon made us realise where our weakness was," he added.

Referring to the current conservative look of the C23 he said: "Owing to the fact that our new wind tunnel will not be operational until after the roll-out of the C23, we had to find another way of designing a good car with optimum pre-requisites for further development during the course of the season."

The German refused to rule out the idea that his team might copy the radical looking nose on the new WilliamsF1. "I think everyone will be looking at that again," he said.

This article was written by pitpass.com and is used with permission.

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