Friday: Van Der Garde and Gutierrez struggling, Sutil more comfortable
Struggling with their power unit, Giedo van Der Garde and Esteban Gutiérrez could not be satisfied with their Friday. Quite contrary to Adrian Sutil, who was visibly happy with the balance of his Sauber, allowing him to enjoy the gem of the Ardennes.
Adrian Sutil (No. 99) – 14th and 12th
The only one who can be pleased with this Friday is Adrian Sutil. Not only was he able to complete two entire sessions without incident, but the German driver also managed to set some encouraging times: « It was a good day. I really enjoyed driving on my favorite circuit. I am quite satisfied with our program today, as we had no issues during the morning or afternoon. The balance of the car was good, but there are still some areas we need to improve. »
Giedo van Der Garde (No. 21) – 17th (FP1)
Once again on track on Friday morning, the Sauber test driver experienced a session made difficult by power issues: « It wasn’t an ideal session for me. From the start, I didn’t have enough power and suffered because of it. I was only able to complete two laps during my first run. I came back in quite early so we could try to solve the problem. After that, I went out for an installation lap, but the issue was still there. However, we had to finish our program, so I continued with the second run. The car’s balance was good, but I still didn’t have enough power and was struggling a bit with my straight-line speed. »
Esteban Gutierrez (No. 21) – 17th (FP2)
After giving up his seat to Giedo van der Garde during the first free practice session, Esteban Gutierrez hoped to catch up in the afternoon. It was in vain: he couldn’t do more than seven laps due to a failure of his MGU-K that sent him spinning at Blanchimont. “It was a very short Friday for me. At least I was able to run a few laps. We need to find out what caused the incident. Now, I must focus on tomorrow. We have to work hard and get everything in place for qualifying.”
