Peter Sauber, referring to the team’s performance at recent races, wrote in the Swiss newspaper Blick “It has not escaped me that we have made less progress than the teams around us.”

“For us, the development curve at the beginning of the season was particularly steep. Now, it has flattened a little,” the Swiss added.

This statement echoes the performance we have seen from the team in the recent past ontrack, with teams like Renault, Red Bull and Toyota consistently outqualifying or outperforming them. What nobody seems to be saying is why this has happened. Only two possible explanations, one being that the development efforts have not yeilded much gains or resources have gradually been reassigned to the 2009 car.