Frédéric Vasseur: “A new car philosophy” for Sauber

Clean F1 Team will not only be able to count on the arrival ofAlfa Romeo as title sponsor in 2018, but also on a car largely revised compared to the C36 aligned in 2017.

Hinwil's car did not shine this season with its "old" Power Unit V6 turbo / hybrid Ferrari 2016, and the expected new developments promise a lot according to Frédéric Vasseur, the French Team Principal of the team.

“There was not a single weak point but the result of the team's difficulties in 2016, comments the manager on the discipline’s website. The 2017 car was ready very late. It was a new project and if you are six months late, that adds up to a difficult situation, complicated to catch up on.

The decision to have the 2016 Ferrari engine this year didn't help either […] We will have a completely new project. Sauber started very late last year, but the 2018 project is on schedule. But, of course, the first Barcelona test at the end of February will tell us where we stand.

Yes, there are a lot of expectations and I think that we made strong choices. First of all on the engine side: having the 2018 Ferrari engine will mean a big step forward for us. And we started with a new philosophy for the car."

Sauber still without drivers

There remains the crucial question of the pilots. The announcement of the arrival of Alfa Romeo did not answer the unknown of the Sauber tandem for 2018.

Si Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson are among the favorites to drive the future Swiss single-seater, the Italian Antonio Giovinazzi, Scuderia Ferrari's third driver, could stay in the loop.

The 2 GP2016 Series runner-up replaced Pascal Wehrlein, who was convalescing at the start of the year in Australia and China. Sauber, on the other hand, upgraded Leclerc and Ericsson during the 2018 Pirelli tire tests in Abu Dhabi after the season finale.