Nico Hulkenberg: "The modified rear wing we have here is a step forward, and the car definitely feels a bit better with it. How much of a step this is, is difficult to say, so we have to look a little bit deeper into the data and wait until tomorrow. Overall, it was a positive day, but there is still some work ahead of us."
Tom McCullough, Sauber head of track engineering: "We evaluated some aerodynamic parts, including a modified rear wing and some other small parts, and they seem to be working as we hoped they would. "
So, the spoon wing is history, it seems. China have the longest straight of the calendar and if the low drag RW is not the best set for it, then I can't see it coming back other than, maybe, Canada and Spa. In Monza, it will be probably even a tinier one.
It's difficult to evaluate the car's speed from Friday FPs as we don't know how quick Guttierrez is, but his time is okay for a rookie. I would imagine a top quick driver could bring it much lower(+0,5s quicker at least)
Overall, I think a big lesson was learned with C32 so far. The focus of development should almost always be on the "most downforce possible" approach rather than on the "let's reduce drag" one. More downforce/drag seems definitelly more benefitial, as Red Bull quite proved since 2009 tbh.
It's also curious what is wrong with the car on the mechanical side. Esteban and Hulk have the highest top speed and Gutierrez S2 is very good and this sector demands downforce, which means C32 L/D is very good.
However, you don't see the benefit of the high top speed of C32 in S1 and S3. They lose too much time there and this can only be explained by very poor speed in some slow corners as straight speed is the best.
If this was Suzuka, I think the car could be very competitive like C31 was there. But this kind of track is very rare on the calendar and Sauber should have focus long time ago on developing a car with great mechanical grip, to start with.