Sauber C32 launch: First pictures and video

2013 F1 cars

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The Sauber C32 has been revealed by the team at its base in Hinwil, Switzerland.

The team aim to build on a successful 2012 season which included four podium finishes. But they have an all-new driver line-up to get used to with Nico Hulkenberg arriving from Force India to partner their former reserve driver Esteban Gutierrez.

“We have very high expectations of them and they know that,” said team principal Monisha Kaltenborn prior to the car’s launch.

“We put some good foundations in place last year. And now we want to build on that base and continue to improve as a team,” Kaltenborn added.

She played down suggestions that the team were aiming to break into the top five in 2013: “We’re not saying we want to finish in this or that position in the standings, as ultimately other factors will also come into play that are outside our control. What we can be clear about, however, is that we want to continue on our upward curve.”

Kaltenborn is starting her first full season as team principal, a position she inherited from Peter Sauber last year.

“On the one hand, not that much has changed for me since I took on the role, because I was already involved in a lot of things beforehand – like the team principal meetings, which I’ve been attending for some time already.

“On the other hand, it is still something special because now all the responsibility rests on my shoulders. And that creates a certain extra pressure, of course.”

Chief designer Matt Morris said the C32’s predecessor was an “extremely competitive car” and the new car aimed to “eliminate its few weaknesses”.

“Over the course of last season we invested a lot of time and energy in developing a better understanding of our car. To this end, we focused primarily on the aerodynamic effects around the rear of the car.

“Our aero experts have done some great work in this respect, the basis of which has been used to develop the C32.”

More pictures of the drivers’ helmets can be found in their updated biographies:

2013 F1 season


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Images © Sauber

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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131 comments on “Sauber C32 launch: First pictures and video”

  1. Much much better livery.

    1. I couldn’t agree more. Way better than last year’s.

      1. I think the livery is nice but its actually very like th eHRT livery from 2010.Dont remember many people raving about how nice that was..Double standards!!

        1. i thought HRT 2010 and 2011 have nice livery, simple and clean

    2. Absolutely beautiful livery. Best looking car so far by a long way!

      1. I don’t know about that, the new Ferrari is very nice too… if Williams can do that classic livery that was mocked up on here then they’d take it though!

    3. JimmyTheIllustratedBlindSolidSilverBeachStackapopolis III
      2nd February 2013, 13:24

      sexiest car yet.

    4. I think i’m in love <3

    5. I find it really hideous, actually. It’s just a single color with a tiny bit of highlight, and that color isn’t a pretty color — it’s a really ugly grey.

      Last year’s car wasn’t awesome, but at least it had a nice black and a bright white.

    6. Hispania comes to my mind. I like it though.

  2. HRT from 2010?

    1. Exactly what I thought. Had to look twice to make sure it wasnt

      1. Yeah I wasn’t exactly a fan of their livery last year, but i still prefer it over this one

    2. Did Bill Clinton design the livery by any chance?

    3. @tomand95 I think it looks rather better than the first HRT:

      HRT F1 car revealed in Spain

      It feelsa bit like a throwback to their original F1 livery from 1993 – I really like it.

      1. I think it’s defiantly a much nicer looker car than the HRT, maybe the sponsor less side pods made me think of it. As for the 1993 car, i wasn’t even alive then so no wonder i didn’t realise they had a livery like this before!

        1. Ryan Fairweather
          2nd February 2013, 12:35

          You young scally wags don’t know what you’ve been missing!

    4. Came here to say the same thing. Very poor choice of livery :(

      1. Livery is brilliant, not sure what you guys are looking at.

        1. It’s grey. This is a formula 1 car, it’s supposed to look outrageous, not like a leased 5-series. Grey is the dullest colour ever.

          1. That’s not beige

          2. It’s meant to look professional! If you want silly liveries, go to America ;)

        2. I have to say that it’s growing on me, it’s gets better every time i look at it. The pictures from the photoshop look great.

      2. Looks nothing like the HRT, the grey they used looked like primer, the graphics are way better on the Sauber.

        1. I like this coloursheme! Better than a primary black/white livery.
          It’s back in 93

    5. At least Sauber knows how to put on the wheels correctly ;)

    6. It’s reaaaaally close to the 2010 HRT, isn’t it?

      Love it, though ! Glad they moved from the boring white…

  3. i like it alot

  4. Much better livery.

  5. Sweet-looking thing there

  6. Dark grey… remember the first HRT car livery?

    1. I don’t think it’s as dark a grey as the HRT…

      The position of the white and red is much better than the HRT, it gives it a slicker look than the lazily dumped colour, IMO.

  7. Is it me or is there a rather large lac of sponsos on this car?

    1. It’s a Swiss team, hence the minimalism!

      1. @pjtierney I think that’s why I like it so much. Too bad all the sponsors’ logos can’t be in Helvetica! ;-)

    2. Bob (@bobthevulcan)
      2nd February 2013, 12:11

      One of the first things I noticed was the blank spaces on the sidepods. Still, with Telmex backing, I wouldn’t be too concerned. Maybe they’ll be unveiling more sponsors before Melbourne or throughout the season?

  8. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    2nd February 2013, 11:13

    That is a dam fine car. The dark livery makes it look menacing! And the nose has a modesty panel.

    Lotus has thus far been incorrect on every team “having the step”. Aside from themselves.

    1. the sauber has a stepped nose

      1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
        2nd February 2013, 11:30

        Well it has two ‘modesty rails’ at the sides of the step to disguise it from the side view.

        I had only seen the side view at the time, so I had assumed they had a panel since it looked so smooth.

        1. Visually speaking, it’s really quite a pleasing solution :D

        2. Looks like a clever solution and it will possibly help them with airflow over the top of the chassis as well.

    2. Lotus will have a weight advantage over the rest of the field!

      Liking the new colours, it might be easy to mistake for a Williams under some light but it looks “fast”, particularly from the side. The shape doesn’t look that different from last year’s – looking forward to Keith’s comparison of these two.

      1. Given weight is fixed that isn’t true – the only advantage could be CoG ….

        1. @john-beamer
          I know that to an F1 team, every little detail matters, but realistically speaking, wouldn’t the difference be almost negligible?

          1. A carbon-fibre nose cover must be 100g, if that? It won’t quite be the rearward weight distribution they had when they won those championships with Alonso…

          2. Exactly – almost zero. There is a very very slight aero gain from the panel offset by a very very minor cog penalty

  9. Very smart, its different I like it. I can see the comments about how it looks like the HRT in 2010 coming from a mile off. The nose looks very interesting. Its nose looks much lower compared to the rest of the field so far, I wonder if they’ve missed a trick here or are very confident about getting enough air to the floor of the car. The sidpods also look very small and aggressive. Not bad at all Sauber.

  10. The sidepods are particularly interesting. The intakes appear incredibly small and the car is very tightly packaged towards the rear, which may help aerodynamics. Are Sauber using the McLaren-style Coanda, Red Bull tunnels or something else?

    1. mclaren style.

    2. @vettel, you are right, these are the most compacted sidepod’s until now.
      Something else a noticed but i ‘am not 100% sure because of the not so clear photos , is the front suspension.
      It looks like the steering axle is embedded with the upper wishbone the same way as the rear suspension of RB8 was with the drive axle (which is copied this year by both ferrari and mclaren).
      I don’t know if this i possible but except the two wishbones i see only the push rod suspension.

      1. @cosmas – no problem! Interesting point you’ve raised regarding the front suspension, I’ll have a look to see if there’s anything on Scarbs etc. on the subject.

        The sidepods suggest to me that Sauber have found a more effective way of packaging all the internal components and improving cooling efficiency, which may mean that the car is now less draggy due to the decreased frontal surface area (which should help top speed). However, I wonder how the packaging will affect the efficiency of the exhaust-generated downforce, as the shape may affect the flow attachment and possibly the coke bottle flow. It may yield positive results and maybe not; I guess we’ll find out soon enough!

    3. @vettel1, i forgot the 1 Max

    4. @vettel1, i think you could see it better in this photo (from AMuS) better.

  11. Very nice. Much better than the zebra crossing livery they had last year!

  12. Great looking car :) nice livery!

  13. Wow, seems some people at Sauber have been reading F1fanatic!

    The new car looks beautiful!

    1. I was thinking just that!

      It’s a shame they couldn’t incorporate more Blue into the Colour Scheme…
      Currently Red is on EVERY car launched, so far!

  14. Would look better black with a red and white design, white wings imo

  15. “We have very high expectations of them and they know that,” said team principal Monisha.

    She tries too hard to prove her position, and ends up sounding like a rhetorical mafia boss. Oh Peter, why…

    1. Because no other team boss would say something like that. I’m sure Peter Sauber would have said: “Well, you know, Nico is pretty good and all, but it’s not like we expect him to perform. We only have that Esteban guy because we get paid to have him drive, so yeah, I don’t think we’ll be doing to well this year, so any point scored will feel like a victory this year!”…

      1. Her comment comes across like it all depends on the drivers, and surely any F1 driver very well knows he’s there to preform, it’s also like a jab at Chico and Koba, as if they didn’t preform to her expectations.

        1. I think you’re reading waaaaay too much into that single statement.

          1. Maybe you’re right. :p

    2. I don’t think there’s anything wrong at all with that.

  16. I thought Ferrari’s new car couldn’t be beaten in the looks department, I think Sauber shoots past the Italians! Great looking car

    1. I agree… It is one of the sharpest looking ones too. Looks really quick..

    2. Personally I’m not a huge fan of the new Ferrari: the front wing pillars are too thick and have that weird 45° angle towards the top, the double air intake gives the effect of a hunchback and the rear looks too busy. It’s got a good nose job though!

      1. William Brierty
        2nd February 2013, 13:24

        I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I think you eyes may need a test if don’t think the F138 is beautiful! Haven’t you seen that undulating white strip on the side?

        1. I agree that the white stripe down the sides looks very good, but I am with @vettel1 on this one. The shape of the car isn’t very pretty.

          1. I haven’t found any of the other cars to be very pretty compared to their 2012 counterparts.

            The Ferrari especially is sporting numerous bulges and generally looks scruffy. The Sauber is the first improvement over last year’s offering in looks. And the livery only makes it better.

            I just hope Williams have another beauty for us, although their pace hasn’t been where I’d like the last few years, I do think they’ve produced the most attractive package since at least ’09. I guess you can call me biased though.

          2. William Brierty
            2nd February 2013, 16:35

            So by getting rid of a nose that looks as if it has been sat on by Johnny Vegas, Ferrari haven’t improved the look of their car? Insanity. Ferrari have created the complete visual expression of aggression with the fantastic glaring front end, the muscular rear end and the tapered rear wing end plate. Its just covered in things that make you go “Wow!”. In fact the only 2013 car I have been underwhelmed by is the VJ06, with Force India seemingly only able to afford to install a vanity panel – and am also not a fan of the new redness of the Lotus, still a great looking car though.

    3. I think perhaps @gongtong has exaggerated a bit too much but nonetheless I think the only improvement from the F138 over the F2012 (which has regularly been cited as the worst looking Ferrari in a long time, perhaps ever) is getting rid of that awful step. Apart from that though it has carried many of the aesthetics of the F2012 – not exactly a recipe from the gods of design.

      I think the F138 is comparable to Ed Milliband: no matter what you do to his nose it isn’t going to make him look like Brad Pitt. If his nose is fixed though people are going to rave about it because it is undoubtably a major improvent, but really it’s like saying you’ve made a brilliant car because it no longer explodes when you turn the key.

      1. I don’t think I exaggerated at all. I think I was quite controlled in my criticism despite temptations…

        Muscular is a funny term, William. To me they look more like Hernias =P

        1. @gongton – I think it would be very difficult for anything to look worse than the F2012! I could understand the E21 (as it is virtually the same as the E20 but with red which in my opinion makes it worse), I could also understand the McLaren as the MP4-27 launch spec was quite spectacular but I’d say the Force India is an improvent for sure, along with the Ferrari (although as I have explained above that does not mean I like the look of it).

          So

          I haven’t found any of the other cars to be very pretty compared to their 2012 counterparts.

          I feel is exaggerating a touch but of course this topic is subject to opinion!

          1. Ah, now I see the problem.

            I think really what I meant to say was “I haven’t found any of the other cars to be very pretty EVEN compared to their 2012 counterparts.”

            Which is particularly impressive for the Ferrari =P

  17. Strange nose, is it really a step in the middle?

    1. Not from the side. It’s a cleaner version of Red Bull’s intake.

      So I guess Lotus is the only one with a step so far.

  18. Just had a crisis… Ooooh, yes! Best looking car yet!

  19. William Brierty
    2nd February 2013, 11:28

    I love the way the old Swiss guy kept going on about the “zidepods! Vhere are ze zidepods!” Joking aside it is a beautiful car, but not in a remotely innovative way, like Ferrari with that intoxicating white stripe. It simply looks like what you’d expect an F1 car to look like – conventional, yawn.

  20. It’s nice, but still feel McLaren and Ferrari are neater and more professional in looks.
    All this car has is a couple of white stripes zipping along, and some odd red.

  21. I have a feeling this will be a very quick car. Not quite as quick as the top 4 perhaps, but could well continue its path of derailing Mercedes…in Hulkenberg’s hands anyway.

  22. Best looking F1 car for about 6 years. Love it.

  23. as soon as i saw it i thought of the 2010 HRT, but despite that i think it looks great, im not convinced that the colour will look as good under sunlight as it does under the fancy lighting in these pictures though.

  24. So far iv been really impressed with how all the cars look and I’m hoping it stays that way especially Mercedes

  25. With the exception of Lotus, they all seem to have the same exhaust.

  26. I’d have to agree it is very HRT but i DO like it..!
    Always had a bit of a soft spot for this team :)

    Those side pods are either really narrow or the ‘fins’ are way out there..

  27. Too many silvery-glossed cars on the grid now.

  28. Santo Carmina (@)
    2nd February 2013, 11:52

    I think this and the Lotus are the best looking cars, Ferrari’s close too. I’m looking forward to seeing the new Mercedes too, Red Bull’s generally look similar every year.

  29. Best looking car yet, looks like a race winner.

  30. Apart from that it looks AWESOME,

    Sauber apparently couldn’t make up its mind regarding modesty panel and stepped nose, so they did both. According to Scarbs, there is a slot in the nose cone similar to last year’s, but I haven’t spotted that one yet. The sidepods have changed significantly: it’s much, much slimmer, which was a result of repackaging. They have given up their previous exhaust lay-out and came up with a solution that is similar to McLaren’s, Force India’s and Ferrari’s. Also there are some clues that they might try the DRD!

  31. wowsers that looks incredible

  32. What a slick looking car. I must say the livery looks better than any ive seen on their car over the past few years. Interestingly, no team has given really good shots of the rear of the car yet. I don’t remember seeing any on McLaren and FI atleast. With the rules being more or less similar, I cant make out any appreciable changes on any teams car. Exhaust oriented season in the offering maybe?

    1. @mahavirshah

      I don’t remember seeing any on McLaren

      I took plenty myself:

      McLaren MP4-28 launch: First pictures and video

      But that’s besides the point as the bodywork will be changed considerably in time for the new season.

      1. @keithcollantine Ah I seemed to have missed them then. But what I believe is that teams will focus much more on the rear end of their cars. In the run up to the first race, secrecy might border on the level of paranoia.

  33. I think it looks brilliant.

    Magnificent, even…

    1. Love your avatar. Surely your fish should be super thin around the waist?!

  34. Where is the CHELSEA logo gone?

      1. So, if its true to their sponsors form, one of their drivers will be brought in for £50million and utterly fail to perform.

        1. @bendana – I think it’s more likely that one of their drivers will bring in £50m and competely fail to perform, *cough* Gutierrez *cough*! ;)

          1. Are Caterham still based in the Nrth-east? BEcause after todays result against NEwcastle, I think they might pull a surprise this year.

            How far can I stretch this joke, I wonder?

  35. Holy Hellfire, thats a seriously good looking car.

  36. I liked the Sauber colours of majority white with some black…especially the 2011 car. So I’m not a big fan of this livery. But if goes like a rocket, then who cares.

    It does have a little of that 1993/1994 colour Sauber livery about it.

    Anyway I hope this team gives the F1 order the biggest shake-up.

  37. If I squint I can imagine Hulkenberg is driving a McLaren!

  38. The Sauber is gray, McLaren is silver chrome, and Mercedes is silver color, all colors are derived and beautiful too, but I think it is very similar visually.

  39. Reminds me of the 1991 Fondmetal!

    I reckon Hulkenberg will win a race this year. Just a hunch.

  40. It´s a very good looking car! Much better looking than last year´s, livery wise. The side pods look small but the opening is huge!

  41. Overall I think the car looks brilliant. The sidepods are gorgeous. The back end is wonderful, the livery I think is good and looks very classic. But the step in the nose is still not great.

    1. They’ll probably smooth out the step.

  42. Ron Dennis must be pulling his hair out: ‘matching tyres, why did we use those yellow softs at the launch?’

    1. Orange hard tyres would’ve been a nice touch.

  43. Best looking car of those that has been revealed!

  44. I’m still surprised that cars with engines supplied by Ferrari, still don’t advertise Ferrari on them like Mercedes and Renualt.

  45. Hmm, although I like the look of the car I’m gong to wait until I see them all on track before deciding which one looks the best.

  46. Nice looking motor. From my perspective, so far it’s Mclaren & Sauber as best looking, Force India 3rd, Ferrari just slightly behind and running up the rear (so to speak) Lotus. Bring on Sauber, Merc & Red Bull!

    1. @mickrock

      Bring on Sauber Williams, Merc & Red Bull!

      I believe that’s what you intended to say? ;) Anyway I pretty much entirely agree with your comment, although I’m actually really looking forward to seeing the Caterham (although as a RBR fan the RB9 is my most anticipated launch)!

      1. Whoops…

  47. Zantkiller (@)
    2nd February 2013, 18:02

    I think I’m on my own on this one but that for me is the worst livery so far by a big margin.

    Way too much grey. Last years livery was perfect.

    1. @zantkiller Each to his own, but… really? Last year’s Sauber looked like it had been coloured in with a marker pen by a four-year-old who got bored halfway through.

      1. Zantkiller (@)
        2nd February 2013, 18:53

        I just don’t particularly like solid coloured cars.
        If I had to choose colours that kinda work when they are on their own it would have to be bright Ferrari red or white.

        I don’t really like the look of any of the current cars so far but I think the Force India is probably the best out of them.

    2. No your not on your own…whilst I wouldnt say it’s by some margin, its definitely my least favourite so far…the white and red ribbons are a nice touch, but I find that bland grey tone a bit dull……whilst it looks quite sleak under studio lighting I’d agree, I think it will just look boring in normal light…

  48. Finally Sauber has brought a car that is good to look at again. I like the intricate livery, and the rear end has been reduced to the minimum.

    Only a shame there are hardly any sponsors on the car.

  49. Looks terrific! Really, really like it. It looks a bit evil, a bit menacing. Can’t wait to see it in action.

  50. Is it just me, or is it really hard to get a good idea of what this car looks like because of a combination of the color, gloss and lighting? The swoopy parts of the livery, and the basic colors, first reminded me of the old Super Aguri cars (but the road jersey version)! Ironic, being Sauber just fired their japanese driver because he’s too poor….

  51. Sensational. Looks “The business”

  52. Abdurahman (@)
    3rd February 2013, 0:11

    Niiccceeeee, I’m digging it. Grey is the new black. Although I think somebody should come out with a matte black livery.

  53. Sauber congratulations, You are the 2013 World Preseason Champion™!

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