Sauber believes there are still gentlemen in F1

Since the start of the season, the controversy around Mercedes AMG’s W-Duct has continued to grow. Although the FIA has confirmed its legality twice, some of the German brand’s rivals believe that it has not respected a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ aimed at banning this type of innovation. This led a German journalist present in Malaysia to comment that to break a ‘gentlemen’s agreement,’ there must first be gentlemen in F1.

For Peter Sauber, there are still a few. « Martin Whitmarsh congratulated me, » reports the Swiss boss after Sergio Pérez’s very impressive second place at Sepang. « Franz Tost wrote me a nice letter, and we also have a good friendship with Stefano Domenicali and the people at Ferrari, » adds the man who will soon retire.

But Sauber also remembers that when he arrived in F1 almost 20 years ago, some people looked at him strangely. « Ken Tyrrell was someone I liked a lot, but he didn’t take us seriously, and the same was true for Frank Williams, » recounts the head of the Swiss team.

However, since 1993, Sauber has established itself as a solid mid-field team, never finishing lower than eighth place in the final standings of the Constructors’ Championship. In the early 2000s, the blue single-seaters received a boost with drivers like Räikkönen or Massa and reached the top 4 of the rankings. Given the encouraging performances at the start of this season, the C31 could once again elevate Sauber in the hierarchy.

« We knew our car was good after the tests in Jérez and Barcelona. But others thought we were running on an empty tank, which is common when a mid-grid team shows something, » philosophizes Sauber.