Technical director James Key announced that he was leaving the team just four days before the C31 was due to be launched at Jerez de la Frontera.

[6] The chassis was designed by James Key, Matt Morris, Pierre Waché and Willem Toet with the car being powered with a customer Ferrari engine.

At the start of the race, Romain Grosjean caused a spectacular crash taking himself, Pérez, championship leader Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton out of action.

The Sauber C31 finished the 2012 season in a very respectable sixth place with 126 points (as much as a private team since 1993), two fastest laps (China and Monaco), four podiums (Malaysia, Canada, Italy and Japan) and 13 Q3.

The car proved to be fast and very competitive, though inconsistent to find the set-up in some circuits and, above all, at the time of the race qualifications.