Kick Sauber’s aggressive development programme for their C45 continued in Barcelona, where an all-new floor brought a significant performance upgrade, one which was rewarded in the race by an official fifth place (sixth across the line) for Nico Hulkenberg.
Although the upgrade coincided with the new front wing Technical Directive, it was unconnected to that. In fact it was a response to a limitation of the car first identified in the pre-season Bahrain test, as explained by the team’s Sporting Director, Inaki Rueda.