Sauber flattered by Red Bull's copy of the exhausts

Peter Sauber has admitted his team is flattered by Red Bull copying the C31 exhausts ahead of the start of the 2012 Formula 1 season.

“We had a nice surprise on the penultimate day of winter testing,” said Sauber in his editorial for Sonntagblick. “Red Bull has announced its intention to use a heavily modified car, which it will race in Melbourne. Compared to the first version it had a completely different rear end, very different from most other cars, but not from ours. Red Bull and our C31 use very similar concepts regarding the management of air flows at the rear. For our engineers, it was additional confirmation that we had chosen the right direction in development. They are convinced that this idea has the potential for further development."