Skip to main content

New-look Sauber unveil 2010 car

Monday, February 01, 2010
VALENCIA: The Sauber team unveiled their new car for the 2010 Formula One season, the C29, here on Sunday.
It will be driven by Spanish veteran Pedro de la Rosa and Japanese newcomer Kamui Kobayashi.
The team is still registered under the name BMW Sauber F1, but German car-making giant BMW pulled out of the sport last season for strategic reasons and has not met any of the construction costs surrounding the C29.
A spokesperson confirmed that the new car will be powered by a Ferrari engine, although the Italian manufacturers' name will not be associated with the team.
Sauber, who finished sixth in the 2009 constructors championship, aim to maintain the same level this season despite the departures of last season's drivers. Robert Kubica of Poland has joined Renault, while German Nick Heidfeld is currently without a team.
Former McLaren test pilot De la Rosa, 38, will provide support for 23-year-old Kobayashi, who made a promising start to his F1 career with Toyota towards the end of last season.
"We have a long tradition of bringing together an up-and-coming youngster and an experienced campaigner as a driver combination, and it's an approach that has brought us a lot of success," said team owner Peter Sauber.

"Pedro has been working at the highest level technically for many years and for a top team, and we can benefit as a team from this experience.

"Young Kamui also has a lot to offer us, and last year he impressed me, particularly in Abu Dhabi."

De la Rosa has 71 Grands Prix under his belt, with his best result being a second-place finish in Hungary in 2006.

"At last I can feel like a proper racing driver again. I’ve really missed the competition out on the track," he said.

Kobayashi, meanwhile, said his aim was to make Peter Sauber "proud".

"The last few months have been very intense for us," conceded Sauber.

"First we had to battle to secure the survival of the team and then we focused on putting a strong set-up in place for the future."

Sauber's immediate future in the sport was cast into doubt by BMW's decision to pull out and their place on the starting grid was only confirmed following the withdrawal of the Toyota F1 team.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

India's swine flu death rate is increasing

Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in

Cuba's world-famous cigar festival closes in Havana

Sunday, February 28, 2010 HAVANA: Hundreds of wealthy merchants and cigar aficionados from all parts of the world gathered in Havana this week to bid high stakes for humidors full of premium cigars. Cuba's annual Habanos festival ended on Friday night with an auction of ornate humidors of cedar and mahogany stacked with hand-rolled stogies that raised 800,000 euros ($1.09 million dollars). Habanos S.A. executives this month said cigar sales fell 8 percent to $360 million in 2009, so they have created the Julieta, a smaller, milder version of the Romeo y Julieta cigar, aimed specifically at female smokers. Women now make up only 5 to 10 percent of customers for Habanos. But even with the creation of the Julieta, Garcia said Habanos has only modest hopes for 2010 sales, due largely to a weak economy in Spain, the biggest market for Cuban cigars. The flavor of premium tobacco relies on the soil and climate in which it is grown. The western province of Pinar Del Rio, famous fo

Cyprus lace to be declared UNESCO cultural heritage

Tuesday, September 08, 2009 NICOSIA: Traditional hand-made lace produced in the Larnaca district village of Lefkara in Cyprus known as lefkaritiko includeded in UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). Soseilos said that the relevant UNESCO committee has already decided to include lefkaritiko in its list of the world’s ICH, a more recent addition to UNESCO’s long-standing list of World Heritage sites, and the decision will be formally announced at the UNESCO General Assembly next month. The tradition of needlework and lace embroidery in Lefkara goes back centuries.