Sauber’s objective? Retain 10th place in the Constructors’ Championship!
Nasr's brilliant ninth place in Brazil and the two points that resulted from it saved the team from last place in the standings. Back to earth for the final round in Abu Dhabi. Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson set the pace again, finishing 19th and 22nd in qualifying.
After the joy at Interlagos, it was time for the Swiss team to refocus in order to maintain and secure its newly acquired 10th place against Manor.
Unfortunately, it was without considering a difficult start to the weekend; particularly for Marcus Ericsson, who found himself at the bottom of the standings all day Saturday and faced difficulties with his car and the ultra-soft tires. The result was hardly more encouraging for Felipe Nasr.
Marcus Ericsson → Q1: 22nd (1:42.637 – 8 laps)
The Swede, who recently extended his contract with the Sauber team, failed to shine and was constantly struggling with his car on short stints at the start of this weekend. He will start from the last position tomorrow.
« Disappointing qualifying for me today. The car was difficult to drive throughout the weekend, especially with the ultra-softs. We were already struggling with them yesterday during practice. We knew it wouldn’t be an easy qualifying session. »
He continues about his lap in Q1: « Compared to my last lap in Q1, it was a shame I went beyond the limit by locking my tires in turn 17. I lost time there. »
The former Caterham driver concludes by discussing the day’s race: « For the race, the pace on long stints seemed encouraging compared to the pace on short stints. So I’m optimistic, thinking that we can be more competitive during the race. »
Mistake in the end of Q1 😤. Up until that point we were in the fight for Q2. Pushed just a bit to much.. Will fight back tomorrow 👊🏻😎 #ME9 pic.twitter.com/3ipsWfn09H
— Marcus Ericsson (@Ericsson_Marcus) 26 novembre 2016
Felipe Nasr → Q1: 19th (1:42.247 – 8 laps)
On his side, the Brazilian – still waiting to know if he will be retained by the Swiss firm – experienced a trouble-free qualifying session and got the most he could expect from his car: « I think I managed to get the maximum out of the car. Although it wasn’t enough to get into Q2. I had a clear lap when I put on my second set of ultra-soft tires, allowing me to achieve a decent lap. It was positive to succeed in getting the tires to work better on this set than on the first one. In addition to that, I made a mistake on my fast lap again. »
He concludes by turning to the race and particularly thinking about the constructors’ championship: “We must ensure that we maintain our tenth position in the championship. That is our main objective.”
