Sauber’s 2024 season was one of the worst in the team’s recent history, as they very nearly went all 24 races without scoring a point.
After going on a pointless run of 27 races between the 2023 and 2024 Qatar Grands Prix, the team finally scored its first points of last season with Zhou Guanyu.
It was a fitting send-off for Zhou after he announced that he would not be continuing with the team past the 2024 season, with him eventually finding refuge at Ferrari as a reserve driver for 2025.
Jolyon Palmer pointed out how Valtteri Bottas would have been angry with Sauber’s 2024 car, especially as it was not him who scored the points. The team has a refreshed driver lineup for 2025 in anticipation of their takeover from Audi, with Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg.
While the team has hopes of improving its fortunes with the relatively stagnant regulations, there was one aspect of its car that baffled F1 technical expert Gary Anderson on The Race.
One part of the 2025 Sauber baffled F1 technical expert
The team needs a dramatic improvement of lap time if it wants to regularly challenge for points, having consistently qualified outside of the top 15 places last season.
Their 2025 car is largely an evolution of last years like much of the grid, with the team also unveiling their tweaked livery at the F1 75 launch in London.
Looking at the first images of their car, Anderson had one question about a specific area of the rear diffuser.
“Most teams would give their right arm to be able to increase the diffuser exit area, so my question is: why would you voluntarily make that exit area smaller?”
Sauber waiting for Audi takeover in 2025
Sauber is effectively in a transitional phase for the 2025 season, as it looks forward to being taken over by Audi for 2026.
Audi has already signified plans to open up a base in the UK to help it attract more talent from other teams, as the leap to living in Switzerland was always a barrier for some.
READ MORE: All you need to know about Sauber from team principal to 2026 Audi future
The German car maker also sold off part of its team to the Qatar Investment fund, after buying all of it from Longbow Finance in 2023.
The 2025 season will likely be another year spent at the back of the grid, but its clear Audi has grand plans to turn them into a team fighting at the front for the future.
Leave feedback about this