Williams – Sauber, from outsiders to bit players

After a 2012 satisfactory season, in which they finished sixth and eighth, Sauber and Williams were expected to be the 2013 F.1 season most challenging outsiders. In the first part of the 2013 Championship they didn’t fulfil expectations and soon turned to be bit players.

After 7 GP, the Swiss team has scored only 5 points and has taken the eighth place in the standing (thanks to Hulkenberg’s eighth place in Malaysia and China) behind Force India (51 points), McLaren (37) and Toro Rosso (20). The English squad and its drivers Maldonado and Bottas are ninth; they have scored no point, so far

“ When you’re a second-tier team fighting on the edge of few tenths to try to finish in the points zone, it’s so easy to pass from running an exciting season, as it was last year, to deliver less exciting performances”, says Gian Carlo Minardi “In my opinion, the Hinwil-based team has suffered Perez’ change to McLaren in terms of financial resources rather than performance. What is more the team lost some technicians.  All these circumstances led the Sauber to fight for lower positions in the standing. Williams is experiencing a very important re-organizational stage. So, I think it will take one year time for them to recover. They’ve chosen a young driver like Bottas, who gave the team the second position in Canada. He’s a performing driver, however he still needs more time. Talking about Maldonado, there is to say that, even though he makes fewer mistakes than his team mate, he’s not 100% performing, yet. Furthermore, I don’t know how much he can be helpful to the team for car development. The news expected for the next season don’t help, as it will be so difficult for them to carry out the 2013 project and the 2014 one at the same time. Next season is getting closer and closer”.

What is more, the great development of two second-tier teams like Force India and Toro Rosso, makes the situation even more complicated “The Indian team is preserving the fifth position in the standing, giving hard times to McLaren and Toro Rosso. The team showed its competitiveness both during the official race and in qualifying, finishing almost always in the points zone”, ends the manager from Faenza.