Sauber introduces new short nose

With limited resources having left Sauber unable to deliver frequent updates earlier in the campaign, the team elected to wait until this weekend to deliver an overhaul of its car.

As well as new front and rear wings, and more compact side pods and bodywork, the team has gone down the short nose route that was pioneered by Williams and adopted by other teams, including Red Bull and McLaren.

And although some of Sauber's rivals had trouble passing the crash tests that are required for the new noses, Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn said that her outfit had got through first time.

"We passed first time – and with no compromises as well," she said. "Of course we had a few different possibilities, but none of them were a second choice."

Proving new concept

Although part of the reason for introducing such a bold change is to help prepare new concept thoughts for 2016, Kaltenborn said she hoped there would be a decent performance step too.

"A significant part is about finding performance, and we will see if this track is the ideal one," she said.

"A lot of it is about performance but of course equally if you follow a new concept and start a new concept, then more can come in that direction. So it is important to see if the direction is right you are going into."

When asked if there would be further upgrades later this season, Kaltenborn said: "I don't think anything major.

"There are bits and pieces coming up, if we see direction is right, but nothing like this."