A smooth practice day for Sauber in Bahrain

Both practice sessions for the Bahrain Grand Prix went according to the planned programme. As the first practice session was not significantly helpful for the night race due to the very high temperatures, the engineers mainly concentrated on aero work. During the late afternoon session the focus was on race preparation with long-runs on soft and medium tyres.

Marcus Ericsson (car number 9)

Sauber C34-Ferrari (Chassis 02/Ferrari)
1st practice: 17th / 1:39.534 min (21 laps)
2nd practice: 11th / 1:36.148 min (34 laps)

“The first session was not ideal, as I did not feel comfortable in the car. In FP2 we made some adjustments and it was working better again. We still have some parts to optimise, but overall it was a good step forward. It was quite a decent session in which we collected valuable data. We did short and long runs on the soft and medium compounds. I think we are where we want to be. For tomorrow we have to make sure that we put it all together, and then we will be strong again.”

Felipe Nasr (car number 12)

Sauber C34-Ferrari (Chassis 01/Ferrari)
1st practice: 8th / 1:38.628 min (17 laps)
2nd practice: 8th / 1:35.793 min (27 laps)

“It was a good day. The car was behaving quite well during both practice sessions. During the first practice session we had a few issues with the brakes. After that was sorted out, I felt the car was going in the right direction. In the late afternoon we were able to confirm this as we had a good pace. We also seem to have quite a reasonable balance for the car during the long-runs. Overall, I think we anticipated some changes here in Bahrain so prioritised traction and the braking zones. Tomorrow we have to make sure we go in the same direction.”

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering: “On the programme side it was a smooth day. Neither Sauber C34-Ferrari had major issues, so we were able to run through the planned schedule. The first practice session was not of any significance for the race, as we were having extremely high temperatures. We managed to put together an aero programme for both cars which was quite productive. In the late afternoon we started to work on the race preparation by evaluating the car and doing long-runs. Our programme was slightly interrupted by the red flag at the end of the session. Otherwise, it was a good day.”