Sauber took the covers off a very distinct stepped nose car at Jerez on Monday, confident the C31 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.
"The Sauber C31-Ferrari boasts a large number of promising new developments, but in other areas it is a systematic further development of last year's car," said team boss Peter Sauber.
"We're aiming to start the new season as strongly as we did in 2011, but then also to maintain this level of performance throughout the year.
"Our goal is to finish regularly in the points so as to put ourselves in a significantly better position in the World Championship."
Chief designer Matt Morris reckons that in the C31 Sauber have a car that has several new innovations while still maintaining the strength of its predecessor.
"The C31 is revolutionary where we had fresh ideas, particularly at the rear of the car, and it is an evolution where we knew we could carry over certain approaches," Morris said.
"We had to improve on the weaknesses we identified on the C30, but at the same time we wanted to maintain its strengths."
He added: "The current plan is to launch a fairly basic roll-out version of the car, which was defined quite some time ago. We will then be testing development parts during the upcoming weeks with a late upgrade for the first race on 18th March in Australia.
"Therefore the car will look quite different in Melbourne compared to the roll-out car."
Sauber have opted to retain both Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez for this year's Championship with the boss insisting that these two he has a line-up with massive potential.
"We are looking forward to another season working with our young and talented drivers," said Sauber
"Kamui will be competing in his third full season in F1. Last year we asked him to take on leadership responsibilities within the team and he has grown into the role.
"With his rookie season behind him Sergio is now approaching his second season, which is often the most difficult in a driver's Formula One career.
"Both drivers have huge potential and will work with the same race engineers as in 2011 to continue developing that promise."
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