Sauber Abu Dhabi young driver test Thursday report

The Sauber F1 Team enjoyed another productive day of testing with its test and reserve driver Esteban Gutiérrez (20) at the wheel of the Sauber C30-Ferrari. The engineers obtained a lot out of this test. The job list for Esteban was long with a lot of hard work for the driver who covered a total of 173 laps over his two days in the car. This was the third and final day of the 2011 Young Driver Days at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber F1 Team

Photo by: xpb.cc

Esteban Gutiérrez:

“I am very happy. This test was a really nice experience for me. I was able to push to the limit in a lot of different circumstances – with fuel loads from high to medium to low and with different tyres and compounds. This was obviously great to get to know more about the car. On my final lap I was pushing a bit too much and spun while on the super soft tyres. Overall I am satisfied that I was consistent during these two days and, together with the team, we managed to go through a huge programme.”

Giampaolo Dall'Ara - (Head of Track Engineering)

"We had another very productive day of testing with Esteban. In the morning we started with an hour and a half of aero measurements with the 2012 tyres. Then we did set-up work with these tyres we shall be using in the future.

After the lunch break we then worked for the next race in Brazil by using this year's medium and soft compounds. We finished the programme with a run on a set of super soft tyres. Esteban impressed us again. He did a very professional and reliable job in testing. When working with him we tend to forget he is such a young rookie."

Circuit: Yas Marina Circuit / 5.554 km
Driver: Esteban Gutiérrez (20, Mexico)
Weather: Sunny and dry, air 25-45°C, track 29-48°C
Chassis / engine: Sauber C30-Ferrari (Chassis 01 / Ferrari 056)
Mileage today: 77 laps in total / 428 km
Fastest lap: 1:42.049 min (on lap 75 in the afternoon)