Saturday: Disappointing qualifying session for Sauber drivers
The Sauber team hoped to perform better during the Italian Grand Prix qualifying. Sergio Perez will start from 13th place and the Mexican hopes to be able to fight for points, while Kamui Kobayashi, who will start 17th, thinks it will be difficult for him to finish in the top 10.
Sergio Perez – 13th and 15th
Obviously, I am not happy with my qualifying result, but I think that’s almost all we could do today. My fastest lap was a good lap, so I have nothing to complain about. Now we will have to make do with what we have. I think our race pace will again be better than our qualifying performance, and obviously, my goal will be to score points for my first Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Kamui Kobayashi – 14th and 17th
I made a slight flat spot on a tire in Q2, but even without that, I don’t think I could have secured a better place. We were quite far from Q3 today. However, we knew that the Monza circuit, being a high-speed track, would be tough for us, and in the end, it’s tomorrow’s race that counts the most. Obviously, it will be difficult to finish in the points given our position on the grid, but opportunities may still come our way, so we’ll see.
Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Chief Race Engineer
It was a disappointing qualifying. The balance of the cars was good, and we were able to complete our (testing) program without any issues, but the lap times did not improve. On this track, the competition is much further ahead than we expected. The race is going to be difficult starting from this position, but our race performance should be a bit closer to that of our competitors, and we have tried to maximize our chances by adopting the right strategy.
