Key: Sauber still recovering from 2009

Sauber’s new technical director James Key says the team is still coming to terms with the changes that followed BMW’s decision to sell the team last year.

He said he is already making changes in the technical department to address those problems:

The team is still recovering from its uncertain situation in the second half of 2009. It requires a slightly new approach to the way certain areas work to make better use of the size the team is now.

In the short term there is going to be a small restructuring within the technical group, which I have just started instigating. This should allow the team to be more in tune with the smaller organisation it is now, particularly in terms of the efficiency of its operation. In addition to that, we have a plan being developed of what exactly we are going to do this year to attack the known issues we have, and to give ourselves a chance to realise some decent steps later in the season
James Key

Key, who joined the team at the Chinese Grand Prix having left Force India, has experience of getting the most out of a small team:

My main focus in the first week was to get around and meet as many people as I could in the technical group to understand where they felt they were, how they operate their departments and how they fit in with other areas. I’m a strong believer that, particularly in a small team, you have to be able to read into how the operation ticks and how it works and fits together. I asked them questions about where they see things heading at present, and what they think their department’s strengths and weaknesses are. All that allowed me to piece together a picture of the team.

The second part was to focus on where we are with the current car. The race weekend in China really helped, because I was able to see the car running and talk to the drivers and people at the track in more detail. From all of that I am forming a plan of the way we go forward, which fundamentally is attacking our known weaknesses and investigating areas we don’t understand so well yet. The good news is the team is well aware already of some of the deficits that the car has compared to where it should be. I’ve been able to reinforce that and introduce a few other directions and ideas as well.
James Key

Sauber will test its version of the F-duct again at Barcelona this weekend.

Read more: Kobayashi hoping for reliability fix