It has been announced today that the Sauber team will finally run upgraded power units at the Belgian Grand Prix after waiting four races to take advantage of Ferrari’s token spend earlier this year.
Ferrari used three development tokens to upgrade its internal combustion engine at the Canadian Grand Prix in June, but Sauber decided not to use the upgraded power units at that time. The Sauber team has brought no significant upgrades to the C34 since the start of the season.
However in an statement to the media today, Sauber’s Head of Track Engineering Giampaolo Dall’Ara said that will change at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend. Dall’Ara stated the following:-
‘The Belgian Grand Prix can be considered the opener of the second part of the season, in which the Sauber F1 team is looking forward to stronger performances thanks to a number of upgrades that will be progressively introduced.
‘At Spa both C34 will be fitted with more powerful Ferrari power units and track specific wings. The track is an all-round favourite and demands high-speed cornering performance and straight-line speed, hence aerodynamic efficiency and power output.
‘Traction and braking, although, as usual, important, are second to stability and reactiveness, therefore rather specific set-ups are being worked out. As for the tyre compounds, medium and soft are expected to fit the event well.’