(Sauber F1 Team)
The Sauber F1 Team head into this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorochamps in search of their first point's of the 2014 Formula One season. On Friday the team's test driver Giedo Van Der Garde was in the car in the morning session in place of Estreban Gutierrez. Unfortunately the team were unable to maximize the power output from the Ferrari power unit. Speaking following the session where he finished in 17th place completing 16 laps and setting a fastest time of 1m54.355s commented:
'It was not an ideal session for me. From the beginning on I didn’t have enough power and I struggled during all the session with this issue. I could only complete two laps during my first run. I came in quite early on so we could try to solve the problem. Afterwards, I went out again for another installation lap, but the issue was still there. However, we had to finish our programme, and so I continued with the second run. The balance of the car was ok, but I still didn’t have enough power and I struggled a little with straight-line speed. It is a pity, but this is motorsport and sometimes these things can happen. I am sure we can solve the problem together.'
Esteban Gutierrez took part in the second session however the Mexican was left disappointed after an issue with the Energy Recovery System on his C33 brought his session to an abrupt end after just seven lap's. As a result the Mexican finished the session in 17th place. Speaking afterwards Gutierrez commented saying:
'It was a very short Friday for me. I did not drive in the morning, then in the afternoon we had a problem with the MGUK, which cost me the second free practice. At least I was able to run some laps. We have to investigate what caused the incident. Now I am going to focus on tomorrow. We have to work a lot and get things ready for qualifying.'
Adrian Sutil had a good day for the Swiss based outfit as this morning he set the 14th fastest time with a 1m 53.703s completing 14 laps while in the second session he finished the session in 12th place with a time of 1m 51.450s after completing 29 laps for the Swiss passed outfit. Speaking following the session the German said:
'It was a good day and I had a lot of fun driving on my favorite circuit. I am quite satisfied with our programme today, as we did not have any issues in the morning or in the afternoon. The balance of the car was ok, but there are still some areas which we need to optimise.'
Following the today's running the Sauber F1 Team's Head of Trackside Engineering Giampaolo Dall'Ara commented by saying:
'In the morning we were more or less able to run through our programme, although the power unit on Giedo’s car didn’t deliver the maximum power output. In the afternoon we had more problems on the same car, but now with Esteban behind the wheel. After only a few laps the MGUK failed and caused Esteban to spin. He was able to make it back to the pits but couldn’t continue the practice session, which limited his running today to just seven laps. This is definitely not helpful. Adrian on his side was quite happy with the car, which is encouraging. It looks as if we are stronger in qualifying conditions than on longer runs, where energy management plays a crucial role, and we loose top speed on the straights. We definitely need to improve our reliability.'
© Ben Johnston 2014
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