First complicated tests for Sauber drivers in Brazil
The test day for Esteban Gutierrez was heavily marked by various issues that slowed him down, but he remains optimistic. While things went better for Adrian Sutil, nothing is set in stone yet due to the changing weather conditions.
The free practice sessions of the first day of the Brazilian Grand Prix yielded two very different outcomes for the drivers of the Sauber F1 team. Indeed, Adrian Sutil had a rather calm day while Esteban Gutierrez encountered several problems.
The Mexican encountered what seemed to be an MGUK problem during FP1, which the Sauber team was unable to fix, followed by a probable electrical issue during FP2, forcing him to stop on track and causing a red flag, the third of the session. Despite everything, he chooses to focus on the positives and the time spent on track – 31 laps in total: « For me, it was an unfortunate day because we had problems all day. On the other hand, I was able to cover some laps to get a feel for this track and the new surface. It was also important to see how the tires behaved and assess the car’s balance. »
On the side of his German teammate, the day went better even though finding the right settings is not easy: It was a good day. We chose different settings from Esteban to make a comparison. This morning, everything went well thanks to the low temperatures, but the weather conditions completely changed for the afternoon session. The asphalt temperatures were quite high, so the grip was less, and the lap times were generally slower. We had to opt for new settings for the car which was not simple.
Sutil expects to have to work on the settings of his Sauber C33 again tomorrow as conditions should change again: « We will probably have cooler conditions tomorrow, which means we need to find different settings. It won’t be an easy weekend. »
