After a torrid season in 2014 (no points), Sauber hope that their new car the C34 will fare much better. The Sauber C33 lacked in roar engine pace as well as its aero, of which Sauber are strong at due to their facilities normally, so was strange to see bad aerodynamics on a Sauber.
Looking at the C34 The biggest change is the front nose cone structure. Its mandatory that all teams have this 9000mm² cross section forming the front nose tip architecture.
What Sauber have done to meet the crash structure regulations is to fit a rather thick thumb section to the front of the nose. At the top of the vanity panel you can see how the top of the chassis is blended to then meet the nose cone structure. This is to get a clearer exit of the airflow the y100 winglet (monkey seat) as well as the rear wing, aiding in downforce.
The thumb section seems relativity thick. This is because Sauber also have wide front wing pylons too, so that the air is diverted in to the air deflectors on the underside of the chassis, above the T-tray. This is a neat solution as the team will benefit a lot with rear downforce on the car.
On the front wing side of things, it looks very neat. They still have the outboard Canard on the endplate which drags the airflow of the wheel wake. The Canard will make a pressure gradient where the low pressure air will be pulled out to then run on the outside of the car. This would be a cooling element where downforce is also gained. On the Cascade they have this turning vane which turns the flow outside of the wheel wake also. They still have the three mainplanes for their up wash effect.
Looking at the central section of the car they have larger sidepod inlets for better cooling. As the Ferrari power unit is a very hot at its operating window. Likewise to the Ferrari SF15-T they have the “L” shaped vertical turning vanes. This is for the same concept as Ferrari which collects the air flow and y250 vortex to then feed it to the y100 winglet and rear wing.
Also Sauber seem to have very small wing mirrors. This is an object where a lot of air hits, so the smaller the surface area the more aerodynamic it will be, which is what Sauber have applied here on the C34.
Sauber has also retained its initiative role hoop design. It’s a undercut structure which is made up of four elements (vanes) This pulls more air flow outbound of the car to the rear wing. It’s a great idea and helps with rear downforce of the car. Its machined from a single block of Aluminium compared to some teams Titanium idea.
Looking at the rear of the car you can see the “swan neck” rear monkey seat pylon. This tells us that Sauber have a detailed y100 winglet and do not want others teams to see, at this moment in time.
At the moment they have its 2014 spec rear wing on the car.
Overall the Sauber C34 looks a very neat package. The cars looks to be a lot sleeker with some low drag downforce generators on the car. If the Ferrari power unit is strong, it should be a good season for Sauber.
