European GP: Sauber Friday report

Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa enjoyed a trouble free first day at the European Grand Prix in sunny Valencia. Finding the right balance for the car, optimising braking stability and gaining experience with the super soft and medium tyre compounds from Bridgestone was on the job list.

Kamui Kobayashi:
C29.02 / Ferrari 056
1st Practice: 17th / 1:43.729 min (21 laps) / 2nd Practice: 14th / 1:40.906 min (34 laps)
"We completed a huge programme today and everything went very well. With the new aero package we now have to work to get the balance right. It is getting reasonable, but we have to analyse the data and I'm sure there is more to come. In the morning I found the track less dirty than expected. However, in the morning tyre degradation was an issue, but not anymore in the afternoon."

Pedro de la Rosa:
C29.04 / Ferrari 056
1st Practice: 15th / 1:43.397 (21 laps) / 2nd Practice: 15th / 1:40.945 min (30 laps)
"We made a lot of changes to the car during the day to prepare for tomorrow's qualifying. The main focus was to work on the braking performance to get the car stable under braking. Both tyres worked quite well on the warm asphalt, and I don't expect anything like the issues we had in Canada. For me it was the first time driving on this track. It took me a few laps to learn it, especially the many braking points, but I quickly liked it."

James Key, Technical Director:
"We had no technical problems with the cars today, which was good because we had two very busy sessions. We worked on adapting the set-up of the car to the new aero package. This is the first step to make the car easier to drive. Fundamentally we have found some directions we can follow for tomorrow, but we have to analyse all the data tonight and see what steps we can make. The consistency from lap to lap needs a bit of work. If we look at the sector times they don't really reflect the lap times, so we have to make sure the drivers can get the best out of the car over one lap. We made progress in some areas but we have work to do in others."

-source: sauber