Sauber Friday Report

Australian GP

The Sauber F1 Team had a positive first day of free practice for the Australian Grand Prix with both drivers completing a huge programme of set-up work and tyre evaluation. While Kamui Kobayashi was a little unhappy with the balance of the Sauber C30-Ferrari in the second session, his rookie team mate, Sergio Pérez, covered even more laps and obviously enjoyed the first day of his first Grand Prix weekend in chilly Melbourne.

Weather: cloudy, windy, some rain 16-17°C air, 18-23°C track

Sergio Pérez:

Sauber C30-Ferrari (Chassis 01 / Ferrari 056)

1st Practice: 17th / 1:29.643 (18 laps) / 2nd Practice: 8th / 1:27.101 min (40 laps) “I am happy with how my first day went. The second session especially was really good. I had no difficulties at all learning the circuit, as it felt familiar quite quickly. Regarding the set-up of the car, we are going in the right direction but have to figure out a few changes for tomorrow. I am very much looking forward to tomorrow, because this is when it counts.”

Kamui Kobayashi:

Sauber C30-Ferrari (Chassis 03 / Ferrari 056)

1st Practice: 9th / 1:28.725 min (13 laps) / 2nd Practice: 15th / 1:28,095 min (35 laps) “I think overall the car isn’t too bad, and we have learned a lot today running the car with the new Pirelli tyres for the first time on this track. It is important to understand how to handle the tyres, especially with regard to the track temperatures. In the first session I did quite long runs with one set of tyres. In the second we hadn’t really the time to let the grip of the tyres develop to the best possible because we had quite a packed test programme. We will now see how we can improve the car’s balance for tomorrow.”

James Key, Technical Director:

“First of all it is good having got the season underway. Today’s surprisingly cold and wet conditions in both sessions didn’t stop us carrying out the programme we had planned. Even with the colder track temperatures, the tyres have been a little bit easier to manage compared to pre-season testing, which is good. We had a normal programme for both drivers with set-up work and tyre testing. On softer tyres neither of our drivers had a clear lap due to traffic. Kamui was not happy with the car’s balance in the second practice. Sergio was a little bit happier. He also had traffic but stuck it out and managed to put a lap together. Now we will work to improve the car’s balance for tomorrow.”