SAUBER C31-04

The Sauber C31 was a Formula One racing car designed by Sauber for use in the 2012 Formula One season.

The car was driven by Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Pérez.
Technical director James Key announced that he was leaving the team just four days before the C31 was due to be launched at Jerez de la Frontera.

The chassis was designed by James Key, Matt Morris, Pierre Waché and Willem Toet with the car being powered with a customer Ferrari engine.

The C31 achieved its first podium, with Pérez behind the wheel, at the Malaysian Grand Prix.
On June 10, Pérez achieved his second podium of the season at the Canadian Grand Prix with third place, while Kobayashi added a ninth place to help Sauber move up to sixth place in the Constructors' Championship.

For the German Grand Prix the C31 achieved its best points haul of the season with Kobayashi coming in fifth position before a penalty pushed him up into fourth, with Pérez following him home in sixth, giving the team 20 points in one round.
This was their best scoring round since returning to Formula One as a privateer team.

At the Belgian GP Kobayashi started second and Pérez fourth (the best grid positions in Sauber's history).
At the start of the race, Romain Grosjean caused a spectacular crash taking himself, Pérez, championship leader Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton out of action.
Kobayashi's Sauber was also damaged in the incident which knocked him right down the field and he finished the race in 13th place.

The Italian GP turned out to be a great weekend for the Sauber F1 team and they scored 20 points.
Pérez scored second place (his third podium of the season), and Kobayashi ninth.
Pérez had a strong race, overtaking drivers like Schumacher, Räikkönen, Rosberg, Massa and Alonso.
The Sauber team had a great strategy with Pérez's car, starting on hard tyres and changing it to medium compound tyres by lap 30 of 53 (the opposite strategy to those who started at the front of the grid). Kobayashi started in 8th place and finished in 9th, scoring two points.

Conclusion

Kamui Kobayashi celebrates his podium finish in front of the home crowd at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Sauber C31 finished the 2012 season in a very respectable sixth place with 126 points (as much as a private team since 1993), two fastest laps (China and Monaco), four podiums (Malaysia, Canada, Italy and Japan) and 13 Q3.
The car proved to be fast and very competitive, though inconsistent to find the set-up in some circuits and, above all, at the time of the race qualifications.