Pre-season Column - 6th March 1997

I'm feeling very excited about my second season with Sauber, especially as I didn't actually know which engine we'd be running when I signed my deal!

Being allowed to run the new C16 at Fiorano in Italy was a sign of how well the team's new relationship with Ferrari is working and, of course, it made sense for that first trial to take place on Ferrari's doorstep just in case there were any problems. As it happened, there were, but they were just minor.

The Ferrari engine has Magnetti Marelli electronics; there was some incompatibility between the gearbox and engine software which meant the gear changing was not clean enough at first.

I did 47 laps, of which maybe 10 were fliers. In the circumstances, I was quite surprised that my best lap was only half a second slower than my new team-mate Nicola Larini's, especially as I'd never been to Fiorano before.

What everyone wanted to know - not least me - is how the Ferrari engine compares to the Ford V10 we had last year. Well, it is massively different! There is a lot more pull and it's got a very wide power band. And it stays smooth all the way to the top. The curve is pretty linear, without any holes like the Ford had. It's also very driveable.

That Ferrari engine is so much stronger, and I'd say it's certainly smoother than the version of the Renault V10 that I drove in 1994 and 1995 at Benetton. Certainly the 1996 specification Ferrari was better than the 1995 spec Renaults I used. That is another source of tremendous encouragement.

Another thing that impressed me is that Magnetti Marelli have more things they can play with to change the engine's behaviour. I can't say much about these, except that they are obviously electronic, but they seem to have far more scope than we had with Ford last year.

The Petronas Ferrari engine is really going to push us along this year and, of course, that will allow us to run more rear wing. At Fiorano, we were getting slightly quicker straightline speeds than Ferrari, but we were running a notch less rear wing. The Ferrari was reaching 174-177mph, whereas we were seeing 180-181. So we know our aerodynamics are pretty efficient.

Our test at Barcelona confirmed my feelings that better aerodynamic grip in the slower corners would mean better grip in the medium speed corners and upwards.When I drove at Fiorano all we changed were the rear springs and the front anti-roll bar, which we softened. Barcelona gave us a better chance to get to know the car's good and bad points. And there is a lot more to come.

So far, working with the Ferrari people has been very satisfying. My engineer is an Italian Canadian who worked with Eddie Irvine last year, and we get on well. And I'm also enjoying working with Osamu Goto. It's always good to work with an engineer with his level of experience, from his days with Honda and Ferrari and he, of course, is heading the new Sauber Petronas engineering company.

Although everyone has been testing, it's still very hard to draw any firm conclusions. People say Benetton has improved. but I'm not really sure whether the car's really changed. It was quite good at Jerez, but it's too soon to tell. Likewise Williams. I'm not so sure they've been sandbagging.

I have a feeling that everyone has closed up. Ferrari made progress at Estoril, and I think Eddie Irvine is going to have a better year in a car that handles more to his liking; however, as I know full well, there are agendas to being Michael Schumacher's team-mate!

McLaren looks very promising. They have a very good engine, and their new chassis seems to be working a lot better. The McLaren looks like a pretty good package and I reckon David Coulthard ought to have a good chance this year. I hope so. And Mika Häkkinen, too.

And Damon? Things haven't been too bright so far, which shows you what life outside Williams is like. When you're up in Formula 1 you really are up, but when that continuity is broken, it's hard to make up ground. I think Damon's in for a character-building season.

Then there's the tyre war. Bridgestone looks good, but they could have been running soft compounds. We tried the new softer Goodyears in Barcelona, and they were good, but until the season finally starts it's going to be tough to figure out precisely where people stand.

As for Sauber, I think we'll spring some surprises. Watch out for the Red Bull to start charging!

With thanks to Johnny, Red Bull Sauber-Petronas and Bob Herbert
This page prepared 6th March 1997. All rights reserved.