Saturday: New scare at Sauber, 17 years later
17 years after Karl Wendlinger's accident at the same place and for the same team, Peter Sauber experienced another scare after Sergio Perez's off-track incident. Although the news regarding the Mexican's health is reassuring, he will not start the race despite a strong performance on a challenging circuit. His teammate, who qualified 13th, will be the only one to defend the Swiss team's colors and will aim for points.
Kamui Kobayashi – 13th
« Obviously, Sergio’s accident was a shock and I’m glad he didn’t have any serious injuries. At first, I didn’t know about the accident because I was at the anti-doping control.
In qualifying, I always had difficulties with my car, which kept bouncing despite the few setup changes we made in Free Practice 3. Nevertheless, from where I am, points are within reach, and that will be my goal for tomorrow.
Peter Sauber
« Of course, we are really relieved that Sergio is not seriously injured. Until the accident, he was doing very well and even better than expected as he was outperforming all his direct competitors. For Kamui, it did not go well in qualifying, but we know his qualities and we expect them to play a role in tomorrow’s race. »
James Key – Technical Director
« First and foremost, we are obviously relieved with the news about Sergio. It’s always very concerning for a team to witness an accident of this magnitude, so it’s good to hear that he’s okay. We are investigating what might have happened. For the moment, nothing in the data we’ve seen indicates there was a problem with the car. But we need to talk to Sergio to find out more. »
