Practice report

Free practice proved to be positive for Sauber

Sergio Perez, Sauber

Photo by: xpb.cc

Friday at the Yas Marina Circuit ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix proved to be positive for the Sauber F1 Team, with the feeling things were better than at the same point in the most recent races.

Neither Kamui Kobayashi nor Sergio Pérez had any major problems, although at the end of Free Practice 2 the Mexican driver was happier with the balance of his Sauber C31-Ferrari than the Japanese was with his.

Sergio Pérez (FP1: 16th, 1:45.811 min, 22 laps - FP2: 10th, 1:43.106 min, 36 laps): “For me it was a good day. We have completed our entire planned programme, so in this respect it was very positive.

I am comfortable with the balance of the car and, therefore, I think my position in the second session is pretty much what we are capable of here. This means Q3 is possible.”

Kamui Kobayashi (FP1: 13th, 1:45.722 min, 20 laps - FP2: 16th, 1:43.689 min, 32 laps): “I definitely have to work and improve the balance of the car. At the moment it isn’t right in any regard, but it is only day one in Abu Dhabi.

The track’s grip normally improves a lot here, which might also help. Today I didn’t really manage to get the tyres to work. However, on long runs I don’t see any issues with either the soft or medium compounds in terms of degradation.”

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering: “We are certainly in better shape today than we were on the Friday in Korea and India, where we struggled more. On the programme side I am quite happy, as we managed to do everything we planned.”