What happened to BMW Sauber Ferrari in Bahrain?
In pre-season testing the Sauber cars were quick, they weren’t the fastest but they showed a turn of pace that was going to challenge for those last points positions and maybe the big four on occasion. However they turn up at Bahrain and were nowhere – were they running light in testing, and if they were why?
Some of the problem may come from the fact that the weather was so different at the two venues that tyre wear would have been very different and the cars would have required a completely different setup. Which leads into the first option – the car is very difficult to setup. This would explain some of the lack of pace as they have much less time at a GP than in testing to optimise the settings, and know the trade offs for the race.
Another option is that the team were simply running light in the test in the hopes of grabbing some headlines and some sponsors, the team are still without a title sponsor and that must be limiting what they can achieve this year.
It could also be that their cars just don’t suit that type of track, we’ve seen it a lot in the past where cars just don’t perform at certain circuit – look at the McLarens, fastest at the test nowhere near the ultimate pace on race day.
The last reason could be that they had technical problems all weekend at couldn’t run the cars at full revs to try and make them last the distance – which they failed as both cars retired with hydraulic problems.
Out of these options the first two – setup and sponsorship – would be very bad for the prospects of the team scoring points this year, the third option – suiting the circuit – would be ok provided it doesn’t happen in many places and the fourth – reliability issues – means more work for the team. It seems most likely that the truth of Peter Sauber’s team’s lack of pace lies in a little bit of all the options but from Bahrain the second option is unfortunately most probable.
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