Sauber's 2024 began with a change of identity following the farewell of Alfa Romeo and the arrival of Stake as main partner for the new season, which thus changed the name of the team. However, the innovations reserved by the Swiss team do not only concern the commercial aspect, but also the technical one, given that the new C44 presents various solutions that identify a break with the past.
After an overall disappointing 2023, in which Sauber was unable to keep up with the pace of its rivals in terms of developments during the season, the engineers worked hard to understand what the limits of the old package were. On the sidelines of the presentation, James Key, who arrived in Hinwil last September with the role of technical director, defined the C44 as an ambitious project, because it contains several ideas that required a great design effort.
The airbox has been completely redesigned, abandoning the shapes that had characterized it in the last two years, while the bellies have a revised excavation in the lower part that is much more pronounced. Added to this is the presence of Red Bull-inspired trays at the entrance to the radiator vents to better direct the air flow under the belly towards the rear.
Sauber C44
Photo by: Sauber F1 Team
However, one of the most interesting innovations concerns the suspension layout, with the transition to the pull rod scheme at the front, as already done by Red Bull and McLaren in 2022 with the return of the ground effect cars. Although it was a layout that in the previous regulatory cycle had fallen into disuse since 2016, when Ferrari decided to abandon it in favor of the push rod for the SF16-H, the new generation of cars has allowed us to rediscover that layout also at front and not just the rear.
According to James Key, who had already focused on this scheme in 2022 when he was technical manager of McLaren, the return to the pull rod would guarantee significant aerodynamic advantages with this type of car, which in this case overcome the negative aspects, such as the difficulty of access and intervention for adjustments.
“You believe that as the performance differentiators start to run out, things will converge, and they're already converging now. So it's best to make sure you have all the other elements in place too.”
“From an aerodynamic point of view [il passaggio al pull rod all’anteriore] it's absolutely the right thing to do and it has a positive effect”, Key told Motorsport.com when speaking about the choice to change the layout on the C44. The decision is due to aerodynamic reasons and, according to Key, it would be linked to the management of the dirty wake of the tires, an aspect that the engineers pay a lot of attention to given that from 2022 many elements that helped manage the flow in a very delicate area of the car have been removed.
Sauber C44
Photo by: Sauber F1 Team
“It's about managing the wake of the front tire and there are many other complicated functions that you try to generate around the tire. It's one of the few devices that are between the front wing and the rest of the car. So you want to make the most of it better from an aerodynamic point of view.”
“The disadvantage, obviously, is mechanical. It's absolutely not what you want to do. It's not a good design in terms of suspension,” added the Sauber technical director.
Key underlined that abandoning the well-known push-rod concept was not easy for the team, also because it required a significant investment. Intervening at a suspensive level also requires reviewing how the flows around the front covers are managed and then directed towards the central part of the single-seater, which requires time and a great effort in terms of design and development.
“The real challenge, once the aerodynamics have worked, is to overcome all the mechanical compromises. I think we need to take a couple of steps forward, because it's difficult to do that, but Sauber have done a great job as a first attempt at pull rod”.
Sauber C44
Photo by: Sauber F1 Team
The new technical director has in fact underlined that his arrival at Sauber came too late to make a significant contribution on this front, given that these mechanical and chassis choices are made quite early. However, he mentioned that for next season there could be further small changes to extract even more in terms of potential.
It is in fact important to keep in mind that these single-seaters will also represent the basis for 2025, given that the teams realistically will not invest significant sums for the development of the cars for next year, but rather on the new regulatory cycle. Although, in fact, engineers are not allowed to work on the aerodynamic level on the new generation cars until 1 January 2025, in reality Key explained how behind the scenes the teams can already evaluate some different concepts, especially in terms of chassis and management of security structures.
Precisely for this reason it was essential to make the transition to the pull rod in 2024, in order to reap the possible benefits for two years. Doing so next year would have required a major design effort that Sauber most likely would not have undertaken.
“Of course we would like that [la monoposto 2024] was a good enough platform to actually last two years. And that's why we also put some mechanical updates on our list this year: I think there are some things missing, I was too late to help, but there are solutions that I think would help the car. And if we can get those done as well, given the size and budget that we have, and we'll be able to do that, then we'll reap some rewards in 2024 that will then extend into 2025. And that would be fantastic. You certainly don't want to do something [un cambio così importante] of the kind in 2025”.
The McLaren MCL36 was born with a pull rod at the front
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Up to this moment, three cars have been revealed, namely Haas (albeit not completely pending the shakedown), Alpine and, precisely, Sauber. Of these, only the Swiss team chose to focus on the pull rod at the front, while the other two teams remained faithful to the push rod scheme. However, Key's idea is that other teams can also follow the same path followed by Sauber. From the teasers released so far, Racing Bulls seems to have taken this path, an understandable step also given the strengthened synergy with Red Bull.
“I expect others to follow because, fundamentally, it's the right thing to do. I think you get a clear improvement even if there are trade-offs. With this setup you get a better result.”
However, the situation is different regarding the rear. Despite sharing the change with Ferrari, since 2022 Sauber has created some solutions on its own that have allowed it to distance itself from the ideas of the Cavallino to embrace a different concept. Instead of the pull rod, the Swiss team has always focused on the push rod, because from their point of view it would guarantee greater advantages in terms of packaging, freeing up space in the upper part of the speaker.
A concept that Key had also followed in McLaren, because the MCL36 was born with the push rod at the rear, as was Red Bull: “The debate on the pull-roll [contro] push-rod at the rear is not a topic of discussion. The push-rod is mechanically better for various packaging reasons. There's not much to say. But the pull-rod on the front is a different story. I suspect others will notice too,” explained the Sauber technical director.
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