Report Friday: Sauber – Balance issues for the C30

For his debut in Formula 1, Sergio Pérez did not miss his entry. After being behind in the first session, the Mexican placed eighth in the afternoon, recording the best performance of the day for Sauber.

His teammate, Kamui Kobayashi, was not able to set a good time in the second session due to traffic. The Japanese driver also complained about the balance of his car. That’s what the Sauber mechanics will have to work on for tomorrow.

Sergio Pérez – 17th and 8th:

I’m happy with how my first day went. The second session was really good. I had no difficulty learning the circuit, and it felt familiar very quickly. As for the car settings, we are moving in the right direction, but we need to make a few changes for tomorrow. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, as that’s when it will really matter.

Kamui Kobayashi – 9th and 15th:

Overall, I think the car is not too bad, and we learned a lot today by using the new Pirelli tires for the first time on this circuit. It’s important to understand how to manage the tires, especially considering the track temperatures. In the first session, I did very long stints with one set of tires. In the second, we didn’t really have time to work on the tire grip because we had a busy schedule. We will see how we can improve the car’s balance for tomorrow.

James Key – Technical Director:

«First of all, it’s good to start the season. Today the conditions were surprisingly cold and wet, but that didn’t stop us from carrying out the planned tire program.

With the lower temperatures, they seemed a bit easier to manage compared to the pre-season tests, which is good. We had a normal program for our two drivers with work on the setup and the tires.

«With the soft tires, none of our drivers had a clear lap due to traffic. Kamui was not happy with the car’s balance in FP2. Sergio was a bit more satisfied. He also encountered traffic but managed to put in a good lap.

Now, we will work on improving the car’s balance for tomorrow.