The team went into the 1994 season as Sauber Mercedes, now officially Mercedes’ factory-backed team with a new car. Replacing the previous model (Sauber C12) and named Sauber C13, this one had a 3.5L V10 Ilmor engine with 735HP. New team Pacific Grand Prix Ltd took a customer supply of more dated Ilmor units. Between seasons Lehto had signed to Mild Seven Benetton Ford. Former Sauber sports car driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen took up the role as Karl Wendlinger’s team mate. Only Frentzen drove for the entire season.
Early signs showed the team was, rather disappointingly, delivering similar performances to the previous year, scoring a small tally of points in the opening rounds. The season took a turn for the worse after a 4th place by Wendlinger following the tragic deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at the San Marino Grand Prix.
Just two weeks later, Wendlinger was seriously injured after crashing in practice for the Monaco Grand Prix; losing control of his car under braking for the Nouvelle Chicane. He suffered serious head injuries, which left him in a coma for weeks and was sidelined for the rest of the season. He was replaced by Andrea de Cesaris and a returning Lehto who had been replaced at Benetton after injury complications. After this the car ran with higher cockpit sides.
The Wendlinger accident was a pivotal moment in Formula One history. Together with the death of Ayrton Senna, it later prompted the mandatory implementation of head protection for drivers in the form of high cockpit sides. Sauber voluntarily pioneered prototypes of these to protect their drivers. Higher cockpit sides were made mandatory for the 1996 season and are still in use as of 2014.
They would finish the season with the same points tally as the previous year but finished only eighth out of the fourteen original entrants. Mercedes were dissatisfied with the progress and left the team at the end of the year, enticed by an offer from the McLaren team, who were still looking for a new works deal since Honda withdrew from the sport. The partnership would see Team McLaren Mercedes take their first win in 1997 and both titles in 1998, but left Sauber to pick up the works Ford engine deal from Benetton. The C13 was replaced for the 1995 season by the Sauber C14.
This is the traditional Sauber logo during the early 1990s which has evolved through different sponsors over the years.
8. The C111 design study was originally baptized , the C101 project. However, the “0 (zero)” in the middle had to disappear , since this number combination has long been protected by....
Nov 28 2014
1994 Mercedes-Benz Sauber C13
The team went into the 1994 season as Sauber Mercedes, now officially Mercedes’ factory-backed team with a new car. Replacing the previous model (Sauber C12) and named Sauber C13, this one had a 3.5L V10 Ilmor engine with 735HP. New team Pacific Grand Prix Ltd took a customer supply of more dated Ilmor units. Between seasons Lehto had signed to Mild Seven Benetton Ford. Former Sauber sports car driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen took up the role as Karl Wendlinger’s team mate. Only Frentzen drove for the entire season.
Early signs showed the team was, rather disappointingly, delivering similar performances to the previous year, scoring a small tally of points in the opening rounds. The season took a turn for the worse after a 4th place by Wendlinger following the tragic deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at the San Marino Grand Prix.
They would finish the season with the same points tally as the previous year but finished only eighth out of the fourteen original entrants. Mercedes were dissatisfied with the progress and left the team at the end of the year, enticed by an offer from the McLaren team, who were still looking for a new works deal since Honda withdrew from the sport. The partnership would see Team McLaren Mercedes take their first win in 1997 and both titles in 1998, but left Sauber to pick up the works Ford engine deal from Benetton. The C13 was replaced for the 1995 season by the Sauber C14.
This is the traditional Sauber logo during the early 1990s which has evolved through different sponsors over the years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE3FXlOB_ro
By PaRaDoX • MB MotorSports, Sauber 0 • Tags: 1994 mercedes benz, mercedes benz sauber, mercedes benz sauber c13, sauber c13