In the second half of the 2002 season, the Swiss team Sauber Motorsport, based in Hinwil near Zurich, Switzerland, halted development of the C21 in order to dedicate all technical and financial resources to the emerging Sauber C22, the single-seater later used in the 2003 championship. Peter Sauber, owner of the Swiss team, convinced that a winning group of engineers must carry out their work with continuity, preferred not to make changes to the team and confirmed German engineer from Düsseldorf, Willy Rampf, as head of the project with the role of Technical Director, working in close contact with his staff of over 24 engineers led by Leo Ress, who also maintained the same position as the previous season as Director of Engineering. The Head of Chassis Design was once again German engineer Christoph Zimmermann, while Phil Arnaboldi remained Vehicle Concept Manager.
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| SAUBER C22, Nick Heidfeld Melbourne, Australian GP 2003 |
Although Sauber had already begun construction of its own wind tunnel in 2002, the work progressed slowly, and the two aerodynamic engineers, Seamus Mullarkey and Dirk de Beer, had to proceed with the design and development of the new single-seater based on the previous cars and on sessions carried out in “rented” wind tunnels, with the associated difficulties regarding the technical timing of the various components. Perhaps because of these difficulties, or perhaps due to a lack of truly innovative ideas, the new C22 turned out to be only a simple evolution of the previous C21 which, in truth, had nonetheless proven to be a good car, only slightly behind the powerhouse teams Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes, and Williams-BMW. Despite this, Peter Sauber declared that the design of the new C22 was approached in a completely different way compared to previous Sauber cars, allowing for higher limits in terms of performance and reliability, thanks to the focus placed on aerodynamics, chassis rigidity, and lightweight components.
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| SAUBER C22, Heinz-Harald Frentzen Hungaroring, Hungarian GP 2003 |
The livery of the Swiss single-seaters also remained practically identical to 2002, with Red Bull blue and Petronas turquoise covering the whole car, except for the nose and the two wings which remained white for sponsor Credit Suisse, along with the yellow of the bargeboards where the new sponsor Mobile Tele System appeared. As for the engine, the collaboration between the Swiss team and the Maranello squad continued in 2003, with Ferrari once again supplying the engine used on the Italian cars the previous season, slightly revised in maximum revs to avoid costly breakdowns. The engine used on the C22 was thus the Tipo 51, designed by Paolo Martinelli and Gilles Simon and developed for Sauber by Osamu Goto, renamed Petronas 03A, since the Malaysian oil company not only supplied lubricants and fuel but also fully paid for the expensive lease of the Ferrari V10.
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| SAUBER C22, Heinz-Harald Frentzen Melbourne, Australian GP 2003 |
On the drivers’ front, after confirming German driver Nick Heidfeld for the third consecutive year and seeing Brazilian Felipe Massa leave for Ferrari to take on the role of test driver, veteran German driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen was recalled. He had already replaced Massa in the 2002 Indianapolis Grand Prix and had raced for the Hinwil team from 1994 to 1996. An interesting fact about the two German drivers: both Heidfeld and Frentzen were born in the small German town of Mönchengladbach, west of Düsseldorf, in 1977 and 1967 respectively. As third driver, the very young Swiss driver Neel Jani was chosen, with limited skill and experience but undoubtedly much more affordable than an established driver. Testing of the car was supposed to begin with a shakedown at Ferrari’s private Fiorano track in January 2003 before the launch of the C22, but due to snow on the circuit, it was canceled. The C22 was instead first presented to the press on February 9 at the team’s headquarters in Hinwil, before continuing development on the Spanish circuits of Barcelona and Valencia. Since Sauber did not opt for the Friday morning test sessions offered by the FIA in exchange for reduced private testing during the season, development of the C22 continued throughout 2003 on various circuits including Silverstone and Jerez, while, due to the lack of a wind tunnel, Neel Jani supported aerodynamic development on test tracks in nearby northern Italy.
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| SAUBER C22, Heinz-Harald Frentzen Catalunya-Barcelona, Spanish GP 2003 |
After a decent start to the season, with three points finishes in the first three races, a worrying decline in performance and results followed during the middle phase of the championship. The C22’s reliability became a serious issue, solved only from the ninth race onwards. Heidfeld secured eighth place, and thus one point, at the European Grand Prix held at the Nürburgring, but despite both cars always reaching the finish line, the performance of the C22 dropped significantly, allowing nothing more than midfield finishes. Only at the United States Grand Prix, held in Indianapolis, did the Swiss team achieve a good result with Heidfeld finishing fifth and Frentzen third, thus securing Sauber’s only podium in 2003, and also the last podium of the long Formula 1 career of the German driver. The Swiss team, with 19 points, finished sixth in the Constructors’ Championship in 2003, clearly a step back compared to the previous two seasons.
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