Sauber expect strong race in Belgium

2011 Belgian Grand Prix

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Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber, Hungaroring, 2011

Sauber technical director James Key expects the C30 to perform well at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in next week’s Belgian Grand Prix.

Key said: “The track is primarily high speed with long straights and well known corners. This should suit our car reasonably well.

“To date it will be the lowest downforce level the teams have run, but a lot will depend on the weather conditions, because they are very unpredictable. As always in Spa, we have to monitor the weather closely over the weekend.”

He added the car will have a “Spa specific” rear wing and a revised front wing for the race.

Kamui Kobayashi added he thinks Spa will “suit our car well, because it has a similar average speed to Silverstone.”

Kobayashi failed to score in Hungary, slipping out of the top ten late in the race after a tyre strategy gamble failed to pay off.

He is wary of more tricky conditions at Spa: “The weather is always very unpredictable, as it was in Silverstone, at the Nurburgring and in Budapest, so this could be another very tricky race. Sometimes you are in a situation where you have to decide for which conditions you set up the car before you are sure what the weather will be like.

2011 Belgian Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
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    15 comments on “Sauber expect strong race in Belgium”

    1. I’m getting excited now, Spa is always one of my favourite tracks, even more so after going there. For me it is definitely one of the races that I will watch at all costs. And being there is fantastic, you really get a sense of history when going to the track via the roads that used to be used on the original 28km circuit (notably Masta).

    2. Amazing to think that with all of those tricky corners, Spa is the circuit with the lowest levels of downforce to date this season.

      I’m already looking forward to Spa, but I’m looking forward to it even more now. I just hope they don’t go for glory on a risky tyre strategy again, especially with Spa’s notorious weather system.

      1. Well, they might go for a risky tyre strategy for once. Instead of just sitting it out on old tyres and hoping to get up front.

        I must say, i am massively looking forward to the Spa race, especially after the brake and having teams bring a load of new parts as well.

      2. I’m quite surprised it’s lower than Canada, although they did say they were running higher df at Canada than they have previously.

        1. That’s exactly what I thought. Surely Canada was lower downforce? I know I have set up my car in F1 2010 to have lower downforce in Canada :P

      3. Yeah, it’s pretty amazing. One would think to tackle the Eau Rouge flat-on you would need great downforce, but apparently not.

        1. Maybe they have enough downforce on lower wingangles aswell. It’s all relative to previous levels of downforce this year.

      4. I would have thought Monza was one for the lowest downforce?

        1. So far in the season it will be SPA, surpassed my Monza then I’d guess.

    3. Hope this ‘Spa Specific’ rear wing is legal..

    4. But can they beat force india at spa? am not sure.

    5. I hope we see the car in good shape so that both Perez & Koba can have a good fight with it.

    6. Will be interesting to see how high they come in the speed trap.

    7. I’m really looking forward to the fight between them and Force India. Force India have traditionally been extremely good in low downforce tracks and had their pole in 2009 here.

    8. I know everyone in F1 needed this holiday, but it felt so looooong. Reading about F1 is not the same as watching the shenanigans on en off the track.

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