Sauber C29 – Back to the European rear wing spec at Singapore

 

Sauber strangely decided to take a few steps back in evolution and reverted back to the European rear wing version combined with the enlarged engine cover’s shark fin at Singapore alongside with the Spanish rear wing spec . Founding out that the older parts are better than new must really make a F1 team nervous and frustrated  .

Sauber C29 – special rear wing for Monza

 

Like all teams so Sauber brought a special very low downforce rear wing for Monza with single vented endplates , keeping also its F-duct system to gain extra speed at straights .

Sauber C29 – Back to Canadian rear wing Spec for Belgium

Belgium

 

The Canadian low downforce rear wing with the double vented endplates was brought back to use at Spa .

 

Canada

Sauber C29 – New Engine cover with elongated to the bottom shark fin at Valencia

 

Sauber despite budget deficit  paid  a lot attention to C29 car aero details and so another small revision took place at Valencia . In particular  C29 had its shark fin profile extended to the bottom to increase car streamline efficiency and to provide a smoother airflow towards the rear wing profile . As regards the rear wing itself Sauber raced the Spanish version .

Sauber C29 – Back to Australian rear wing spec at Monaco

   Sauber  abolished the use of the F-duct system at slow Monaco city roads and re-used the spec first seen  at Melbourne  .

Sauber C29 – Low downforce rear wing at Canada

  Canada

           The C29 raced a much lower downforce  rear wing spec at Canada which had fewer endplate gills ( 2 gills instead of 4 )  and a reduced chord . The F-duct system was also updated to the needs of the new wing blowing now the upper second plane instead of the main profile .

Sauber C29 – Debut of the rear wing stalling system at Spain

          Finally Sauber made it to race its own F-duct version to gain extra speed at long Catalunya  finish –start straight . The F-duct system though was significantly updated since the previous tested only versions . It now receives air from a duct placed in front of the cockpit rather than the sidepods , which is similar to the one featured by Mc Laren MP4/25 .

 

Sauber C29 – Rear wing stalling system

 

         Sauber despite  BMW withdrawal , budget deficit and uncertain future was the first team to copy and test at Australia Mc Laren’s innovative rear wing stalling system ! Rumors suggest that Pedro De La Rossa , former Mc laren test driver and now Sauber’s driver may have helped the team to develop quickly its own blown rear wing system .

 

 

System details :

          The system receives air directly from the airbox  and then air is guided with the help of  a tube housed inside the engine cover onto the main rear wing plane ( difference from Mc Laren design )  . A duct placed on the left cockpit plays a role to the system’s activation control .

 

 

Debut of the system :

         The very first version of the system was tested at Australia . Revisions to the system took place for Malaysia in an attempt to make the system more complete and able to  race .

Sauber’s F-duct initial version explained on video

Sauber C29 – New sophisticated rear wing for Australia

  Melbourne , front view

           For Melbourne Sauber adopted a totally different and quite sophisticated rear wing concept with slotted flaps (1) not bending upwards close to the endplates like they did before and endplates featuring  four slits instead of two (2) . In details the main flap featured an extra slot at its middle zone and an extra slit , both to bleed some of the airflow blowing onto the flap profile , a design allowing higher wing attack angles without causing the wing to stall .

  Melbourne , rear view

         This wing spec was also tested during winter testing like the one used at Sakhir but it is not a brand new design as it was already introduced since  last year by Sauber team and can be possibly  regarded as  a beacon for the 2010 F-duct system .

Sauber C29 – Bahraini rear wing details

       Sauber  raced at Sakhir a usual for F1 standards rear wing with two horizontal  slits (1) at the top of the endplates , double flap connectors (2) and double  pillars to secure wing stiffness (3) . The central wing section was flat while its outer extremities close to the endplates were bending upwards in a curvy way (4)  to reduce drag as this concept reduces vortices behind the endplates profile .

       This wing design was also extensively tested during winter testing  at Catalunya – Spain .