Sauber unveiled its very distinct stepped nose car, the C31, at Jerez on Monday, confident that the car incorporates innovation as well as the tried and tested. In keeping with this year's new regulations governing the height of the nose, the C31 has arguably one of the more notable steps as the team have opted to go with a high chassis design.

The front suspension has been optimised for integration with the chassis and the upright while packaging was further optimised under the side pods in order to open up more aerodynamic development scope in that area. As for the cooling system, that is based around a similar philosophy to the C30 and allows the design of very compact rear bodywork.