Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen new car is expected to hit the track for the first time on February 14, as reported by France’s L’Equipe, which informs that the Swiss team will give its 2019 car a shakedown at Scuderia Ferrari’s private test circuit at Fiorano.
The first outing for the Ferrari-powered, Alfa Romeo-sponsored Sauber team will take place on the same day as the launch of McLaren’s 2019 car, as official winter testing will commence in Barcelona from February 18.
Sauber has “good expectations” for the 2019 Formula 1 season because of how early it switched “all resources” to its new design. The Swiss team was one of the surprises of 2018 as it progressed from fighting Williams at the back of the grid in the season opener to establishing its C37 as arguably the fourth-fastest car by the end of the year: “We have good expectations but when you have a change like this in the regulations it’s a drastic one. You never know.” – team boss Frederic Vasseur said – “You can take the wrong direction and we will understand this perhaps [only at testing] in Barcelona because nobody knows exactly what the others are doing. My feeling is very positive, that we are still improving week after week and with the same purpose we had [in 2018]. I don’t know if the others are doing a better job or not, but we are doing a good job.” – he added.
With Charles Leclerc moving to Ferrari and Marcus Ericsson dropped and bound for IndyCar, Sauber will field 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi this season.
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