(Sauber F1 Team)
It has been a busy start to the week for the Sauber F1 Team. First of all, yesterday the team announced that their test and reserve driver Giedo Van Der Garde will drive the C33 on Friday in Bahrain while Sergey Siroktin will get behind the wheel during the first day of next week's test at the Sakhir circuit.
It has emerged today that the Swiss team, who have had a difficult start to the 2014 season are working on a new lightweight version of the C33 which according to media reports in the UK should be ready in time for the start of the European season in Spain on May 9th.
The team like the majority of the grid have struggled to get to grips with the brand new for 2014 brake by wire system along with a number of other issues and have so far in the first two GrandPrix failed to score a point.
The changes being brought in with the new 'lightweight chassis' are expected to reduce the weight of the C33 by at least 20KG which would come as a huge boost for the Swiss based outfit as that sort of weight reduction would result in speed gain of up to 6 tenths of a second per lap.
Team boss Monisha Keltenborn said:
'We are planning a big upgrade for Barcelona, but on both coming race's in Bahrain and China we will be especially introducing measures on the weight side.'
The development drive will step up once the teams arrive back in Europe as it is far easier to get deliver parts to the track when they are the European races and it is far more cost affective. Sauber, Lotus, Caterham and Marussia are the only teams on the grid yet to score point's this season, however that will likely change in the next race or today particularly for Sauber as Keltenborn has said that they have some new parts for Bahrain.
©Ben Johnston 2014
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