Sauber introduces its own duct system

Just two weeks after the duct idea, which helps stall the rear wing at high speed when a driver closes off a vent in the cockpit, was given the all-clear by the FIA, BMW Sauber has already pushed ahead with its own version of the device.

The team's C29s were being fitted with the ducts at the Albert Park circuit ahead of first practice. It appears to be fitted on top of the lefthand sidepod.

With teams unable to make major changes to their chassis because of homologation regulations, it appears that Sauber has opted to make modifications to its sidepods instead.

It is believed that once the air is channelled through the car it is then blown out onto the main profile of the rear wing, rather than the upper element as happens with McLaren. It is not clear where the driver is able to influence the airflow.

As well as the duct, Sauber has introduced a slot gap in the middle of the upper element - in similar style to the McLaren design that was approved by the FIA.

Sauber has not yet decided whether the system will be raced in the Australian Grand Prix, but it wants to give the ducts a proper test in practice to see how effective they are.

The team has been unable to test the effectiveness of the ducts in the wind tunnel because teams are limited to a maximum speed - which is slower than when the ducts become useful on track.

BMW Sauber driver Pedro de la Rosa reckoned his team had done the right thing in pushing hard to introduce the technology.

"It is a prototype, and the team has been working the last week flat out. We just have to be open minded," he said when asked by AUTOSPORT what the team had told him about the ducts.

"We have no testing, and this is the first opportunity we have to try it. We have to test it, make sure it works and then decide if it is raceable or not. We just have to have the patience to test it properly."

De la Rosa, who was a McLaren test driver until he took the Sauber drive earlier this year, admitted that he had had some knowledge of what his former outfit was up to - but insisted the Sauber concept was very different.

"Yeah - I knew a little bit about what McLaren was trying," he explained. "But this is a Sauber system. It is a different system."

De la Rosa said that the Sauber design was so new that he had not even worked out how he would activate closing the duct off when driving.

"Honestly, it is so new the system that I have to get in the car and check - where it is, how we do it! So we are in that phase now. I will know more later on today.

"It is a prototype. We are not sure if we will race it or not. We have to develop it, that is the main thing. The earlier you start the earlier you will have it. And definitely it is a system that if you make it work, it makes the car quicker. Full stop."

He added: "I have been impressed to see how quick the team realised this system was possible. They have come up here with a system that is pretty impressive from what I have seen. I think that it is a very agile team - it is a very quick reacting team and this is something I have realised since day one.

"Sometimes being smaller than a big team means that sometimes you are prepared to take more risks, and react quicker. That can be a strength. You have to be quicker to react than the big teams."