Sauber C36 Technical Anaysis
On the 20th of February 2017 Sauber Formula One Team reviled their 2017 challenger. What a good looking car! The 25th year classic anniversary livery really looks striking and is one of the best looking (In livery terms) F1 car designed in the V6T-Hybrid era!
Once again I have colour coded the photographs of car. Here is the main photo of the C36 and there is many talking points in this photo.
In Orange - You can see the new and really good looking abovee driver air-box. It is halved in the middle (see below picture) It is pushed back to create aerodnamic air movement, I believe Sauber have done this to push airflow round to the rear wing to generate downforce. It may be streamlined because Sauber are using the 2016 Ferrari V6T-H engine which subsequently will be down on power compared to the rest.
At the tightly packed rear you can see the rear wing which has been designed like Williams and will generate a lot of downforce due to the higher pitch of the wing plates. The wing support looks very good with a different design to Williams, this design will make the rear-wing more stable and less prone to vibration which in-tern could upset the balence of the car at such tracks like Monaco and Singapore. Where the roads are very bumpy and less like a Grand Prix circuit.
The cars turning vanes are one piece (This will probably change after testing) But as it runs down of the side of the car Sauber has added some pieces between the side-pod and the veins, which will deflect airflow over the tyres and over the wing.
In White - Here Sauber had created slits into the floor of the C36, this generates alot of downforce by pushing the air downwards and towards the bottom of the tires. Mclaren started using this design back in 2015 with other teams following in 2015-16 including Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes and Manor.
In Orange - You can see the front nose which has not been changed a lot since 2016, but it has been squared more and pushed back. This style nose was introduced fully at Barcelona. You can also see the halved air-box which is like the 2010 - 2011 Mercedes Benz. In my opinion I do not really like the halved design because it will increase surface area in the air box and with the larger surface area means that the cooling will be less for the engine.
In White - Here are the triangular shaped sidepods which Sauber have used since 2014. They are fairly large and should give good airflow to the radiator.
In White - You can one of the newest trends back into Formula One which is the 'Shark Fins'. These fins divert airflow over the wing so the air doesn't mix with exhaust gasses. Saubers is fairly large and should move airflow fairly well, but in my opinion it needs to be shrunk so it doesn't weigh to much and to make the airflow diversion more efficient. You can also see the rear wing support much better in this photo, I can imagine that will be moved further down for better aerodynamic stability at the rear.
In Yellow - This shot shows the overhead intake much better and the actual intake doesn't start right at the front of the up-head but it is pushed back. This could be due to Sauber wanting a better top speed from their car, so the air is not hitting a flat face but a pushed back face.
You can also see the side pods too which have changed slightly, the side pod is fairly small and this might cause issues at tracks which are known for hot temperatures.
In Orange - This is a brilliant shot to show off the 2017 rear wing. It is angled and is very streamlined, they have adopted a design created by Torro Rosso and McLaren by which the slits in the rear wing are not connected to the wing at the front only behind the slits, It is a fairly basic with few details. Like Williams they have adopted a L shape ending to the wing but the L is facing upwards instead of strait like on the FW40.
In Red - The bargeboard has been created within the 2017 regulations and it is a McLaren style 2010-14 bargeboard design fairly basic but it will be changed trough the course of testing.
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