According to some recent allegations within the Valencia paddock however, some reasonable explanations for this have been issued. One would be the fact that Peter Sauber is desperately trying to find the necessary sponsorship to sustain a viable F1 organization for the 2010 season.
When the team first revealed the car to the world last Sunday, everybody noticed that the C29 features a no-sponsor livery. The Swiss owner quickly assured the media that sponsors are to appear in due time, but no announcement on a potential deal was issued in the mean time. In an effort to attract sponsors, Sauber may have considered running his car on a low-fuel strategy in Valencia, in order to score impressive lap times.
With a top car for the 2010 campaign and some rather low sponsorship fees – after all, we're talking about a private team, not a manufacturer – most companies would not have second thoughts at signing some good deals with Sauber. The Virgin-Brawn GP example last season speaks for itself.
Obviously, Sauber's driver Pedro de la Rosa dismissed the rumors, revealing that he drive the C29 on “different fuel loads – like everybody.” Also, Williams' technical director Sam Michael admitted that supposition may be true, but his personal opinion is that everyone runs their car on different fuel loads, not only low-fuel.
“There is always obviously people looking for sponsors – but I'm not saying anyone is doing that (running low fuel) as there is no point relying on that. You've got to assume everyone is not doing that,” added Michael.
De la Rosa scored the second best time of the Monday testing session, while his teammate Kamui Kobayashi ended yesterday's sessions also with the second best time, behind Felipe Massa but ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
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