My favourite team of the 2001 season. Admittedly they were flattered by the often-feeble efforts of their main opposition, re. BAR, Jaguar, Jordan, although it is refreshing to see a ‘private’ team getting the job done against the big money, works backed teams. Could easily be the surprise package again this year, especially in the early races. Bridgestone tyres could play a huge part again.
The Sauber C21 to be used this season has shown respectable pace, and using year old Ferrari engines is no disadvantage. The key strength in the package, aside from a very strong driver in Heidfeld, is likely to be the Bridgestone tyres. Undoubtedly they will work better at some tracks than the Michelins and this offers a great opportunity for Sauber to steal points from Mclaren and Williams (both on Michelins). If they get the strategies right, with a bit of luck Sauber could be challenging for Podiums at some races this year.
Nick Heidfeld
The talented German must have breathed a huge sigh of relief last year. After an appalling debut season with Prost in 2000, he had an excellent season in 2001 with Sauber, finishing in the points seven times, with only bad luck stopping more. He was justified in being annoyed when Mclaren overlooked him and chose teammate Raikkonen for 2002. This season could be another good one for Heidfeld, with the Sauber showing good pace in pre-season testing.
Felipe Massa
Highly rated Brazilian rookie, some say he could be the next Senna that will be about the tenth one so far then!. Likely to be fast at times, but unlikely to be as good as Raikkonen was in his first season. Very little is really known about this driver, although team boss Peter Sauber has a good eye for talent and rates him higher than Raikkonen.
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