A normal Friday for Sauber on free practice for the Spanish GP

Both free practice sessions for the Spanish Grand Prix went according to plan for the Sauber F1 Team. In the morning test and reserve driver Raffaele Marciello was back in the Sauber C34-Ferrari for his second FP1 assignment during a Grand Prix weekend. Regular driver Marcus Ericsson took over in FP2 and continued to work with Felipe Nasr on the set-up of the car and race preparation.

Marcus Ericsson (car number 9)
Sauber C34-Ferrari (Chassis 03/Ferrari)
2nd practice: 16th / 1:29.361 min (34 laps)

“It was a good session. Obviously I had to catch up as I did not drive in FP1. Overall we did short and long-runs on which we could gather information on the tyre behaviour. This is especially important for the race. At the end of FP2 we focused on pit stop practice. Overall it was a positive day.”

Felipe Nasr (car number 12)
Sauber C34-Ferrari (Chassis 01/Ferrari)
1st practice: 10th / 1:29.140 min (14 laps) / 2nd practice: 15th / 1:29.333 min (37 laps)

“In the morning the grip conditions on the track were quite low. However, I had a good feeling in the car straight away. We had a suitable balance under these conditions. As the track temperatures were much higher than in the morning, I had oversteer on the medium and hard tyres. Thus, it was a bit difficult to extract the maximum out of the car. Overall it was a good day. For tomorrow we need to analyse the collected data especially those from the warmer conditions.”

Raffaele Marciello (car number 36)
Sauber C34-Ferrari (Chassis 03/Ferrari)
1st practice: 12th / 1:29.630 min (15 laps)

“It was good to be back in the car. Overall I am satisfied with my second FP1 session. I think I did a good all-round job as I could go through the planned programme consisting of aero measurements and some set-up work. The driveability of the car was good, and I could give some valuable feedback.”

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering: “It was a normal Friday for us. In the morning we focused on set-up and balance checks, and had also Raffaele back in the car. In the afternoon we mainly focused on race preparation with Marcus and Felipe. They did long-runs on the medium and hard tyres and we finished the second free practice session with pit stop practice.”