Sauber confirm positive impressions from winter tests on qualifying for the Australian GP

The first qualifying of the new season went well for the Sauber F1 Team in Melbourne. On the Albert Park circuit Felipe Nasr just missed out on Q3 and was 11th. Marcus Ericsson didn’t feel confident in the car and finished 16th.

Marcus Ericsson (Qualifying: 16th in Q1 (1:31.376 min / soft tyres): “It was a disappointing session for me being P16, and we cannot be satisfied with this result. I had quite a good feeling in the car yesterday, but today I have been struggeling to feel confident, especially in the braking zones. We need to analise the data tonight to see what we have changed from yesterday, so that we can learn from that and fight back during the race. Tomorrow is a new day.”

Felipe Nasr (Qualifying: 11th in Q2 (1:28.800 min / soft tyres): “As a team we can be happy that we nearly made it into Q3. Missing FP1 on Friday affected the performance of the car to a certain extent, and I also had less time getting to know the new track in Melbourne. All in all I am satisfied with the result and I am looking forward to the race. Tomorrow is an important day with it being my first ever Formula One race, and we are going to push for points.”

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: “It was a strong first qualifying for the team. We are pleased to confirm the positive impression from the winter tests. It is also nice to see the car further in front, which gives the team additional motivation. We are going into the race with good prospects for a positive result.“

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering: “The early afternoon session allowed us to recover some of the mileage we lost yesterday. So we were able to sort out the balance of the car. However, both drivers were caught out by the change in the weather conditions in Q1, so the session was not as good as we wanted it to be. It took a while to get the car back on pace. Unfortunately Marcus got stuck in Q1. We just made it with Felipe. Then in the next session, by building more confidence in the car, he did a good job and was able to clinch 11th position, which we can be pleased with as a starting point. We had a bit of an issue with the braking performance, which particularly affected Marcus in the third free practice session and cost him some confidence. However, overall it was a good day, and we are approaching the race with confidence.“

Sauber F1 Team