Sauber has become the latest Formula 1 team to unveil its 2014 car ahead of this week’s first pre-season test in Jerez.
The Swiss team has released a single image of its C33, which will be raced by Esteban Gutierrez and former Force India driver Adrian Sutil.
Caterham refugee Giedo van der Garde and Russian teenager Sergey Sirotken have been signed by the team as its reserve drivers.
Team principal Monisha Kaltenborn is hopeful that Sauber can improve on a disappointing 2013, where it finished seventh in the Constructors’ standings with just 57 points.
“We have put a very challenging year behind us,’ said Kaltenborn.
“The first half of 2013 in particular was difficult for us, but the second half saw us making significant strides.
“We learnt a great deal during this time and will be applying the lessons in the new season.”
The team’s chief designer, Eric Gandelin, emphasised that the launch-specification C33 is just the starting point for the team as the entire F1 paddock comes to terms with the new regulations.
“The radical changes to the technical regulations for 2014 mean that it’s even harder than usual to make predictions for the new season,” he said.
“We know what kind of package we’ve put together here, but it is difficult to foresee what shape our rivals are in.
“The earliest opportunity to gain an impression of where the teams are in relation to one another will come during testing.
“The path we have followed with the design of the Sauber C33-Ferrari allows us maximum flexibility, so that we can react quickly.
“It is also clear that reliability will be an important factor in the first few races in particular. So this is an area which we have given very high priority.”
