Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi finished 7th and 8th, respectively, at Albert Park last weekend, but a post-race investigation by the FIA stewards revealed that both C30s driven on Sunday featured a radius on the upper rear wing element did not comply with the technical regulations by a few millimetres.
Shortly after, team owner Peter Sauber launched an internal investigation at Hinwil to find out how the rear wing infringement occurred. On Tuesday morning, the team admitted officially that the upper rear element of the wing indeed featured a radius that did not comply with the rulebook, but Sauber hinted an appeal would still be lodged.
Even if insisting that the infringement did not give the two Sauber cars in the race any important advantage, Sauber later changed his position and agreed not to go ahead with the appeal.
“Both Sergio and Kamui put in a tremendous performance on Sunday. They gained no advantage from the inaccurate rear wing,” said Sauber. “They both fought hard to secure their finishing places and had really earned their points. Notwithstanding the disappointment, we have shown that we have a fast car and two highly talented drivers. It makes me optimistic for this season.”
“It did not bring us any performance advantage, but the fact is that it was a deviation from the regulations. We take note of the stewards' decision,” admitted technical director James Key, echoing the comments of his boss.
“We have since found that there was an error in the checking process for the relevant dimension on this component. We have already put measures in place to ensure that nothing of this kind occurs again in the future.”
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