Technical director hopeful of an improved showing in Belgium
Last Updated: August 20, 2011 1:49pm
Better performance: Key and Perez
Sauber technical director James Key is "hopeful" they will be back in the points at the Belgian Grand Prix next weekend.
The Swiss team head to Spa-Franchochamps after a disappointing outing in Hungary at the end of last month, where they failed to score points for only the third time this season.
Sauber also went pointless in Valencia and Australia - the team's drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez albeit disqualified in Melbourne after the rear wing of their C30 car was found to have broken the rules.
Key has targeted a return to the top 10 in Belgium on a track he thinks will suit their car. The Ferrari-powered C30 will also feature updates to the both the front and rear wing.
"We're looking forward to getting into the next part of the season and going to Spa, which requires a medium-to-low downforce level," Key said.
"To date, it will be the lowest downforce level the teams have run, but a lot will depend on the weather conditions, because they are very unpredictable. As always at Spa, we have to monitor the weather closely over the weekend.
"The circuit itself is very popular with the drivers, and a great place to engineer a car. The track is primarily high-speed with long straights and well-known corners; this should suit our car reasonably well."
However, Key admitted that Sauber need to deal better with Pirelli's medium compound tyre, which will be used along with the softs in both Belgium and Italy.
"The Pirelli tyres are the soft and the medium compounds. We know from Silverstone that the soft tyre works well with the high-speed corners, but we have some work to do with the medium compound," he added.
"The car will have updates to the front wing and a new rear wing which is Spa-specific. After a difficult race in Hungary, we're hopeful of a better performance in Belgium."
Credit: Sky Sports (www.skysports.com)
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