Sauber have become the first team in the paddock to replicate McLaren’s duct system.

They have fitted the vent to the left sidepod on their C29 cars given the fact that the technical regulations forbid major changes to the chassis.

Sauber have shown impressive speed in recreating their own version of the device which stalls the rear wing at high speed when the driver closes a vent in the cockpit, especially considering it took McLaren two years to develop.

Sauber will have presumably used their driver Pedro de la Rosa’s knowledge of the device to recreate their own, as de la Rosa was a test driver at McLaren before joining the Hinwil-based team.

de la Rosa said the team have yet to decide whether the system is raceable or not:

“It is a prototype, and the team has been working the last week flat out. We just have to be open minded.

“We have no testing, and this is the first opportunity we have to try it. We have to test it, make sure it works and then decide if it is raceable or not. We just have to have the patience to test it properly.”

Pedro de la Rosa