(Sauber F1 Team)
The Sauber F1 Team head to the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg this weekend in search of their first point's finish of the 2014 season. The Swiss based outfit have endured an extremely tough start to the new campaign. Adrian Sutil finished the last race, the Canadian Grand Prix in 13th place albeit one lap down while Esteban Gutierrez failed to finish the race following an engine storage system failure.
The Austrian Grand Prix is a new challenge for both the Sauber driver's as they have never raced there in Formula One before so it is a unique opportunity for the team to score point's for the first time this season because although most of the team's have raced here in Formula One before back in 2003, the circuit has undergone a major transformation since then.
Speaking ahead of the Grand Prix this weekend, Esteban Gutierrez said:
'The track in Spielberg is new for me and for many other drivers as well. It is always interesting to have new tracks on the Formula One race calendar. Last year there were quite a few tracks on which I drove for the first time, and now with Spielberg there is another new one. It is a fast circuit, so I am going to enjoy it. It will be an interesting event as the Austrians like Formula One and are nice and cheerful people. I hope we can feel the passion and the support for the sport, so that it can be a successful event. I am looking forward to the race weekend.'
While Esteban Gutierrez has never been to the Spielberg circuit before his team mate Adrian Sutil has raced there before during his time racing in other categories of motorsport. The German said:
'I am looking forward to the Austrian Grand Prix. I have never been to Spielberg with Formula 1. I know the track from previous racing series in my career, and I really like it. At that time I was participating in Formula Ford and Formula 3. Obviously, I hope for a positive result there. In Canada it was good to finish the race and to get the maximum out of the car. The team also did a great job with the strategy and the pit stops. I hope we can build on this and make steps forward in every area. I am keeping up my motivation, and I am looking forward to the weekend in Spielberg.'
Sauber's Head of Track Engineering, Giampaolo Dall'Ara commented:
'The track in Spielberg is a relatively short one, consisting of significant straights with medium speed corners and a hairpin. The race is back on the calendar after 11 years, so it will be interesting to set-up the modern Formula One cars for this track. The starting point of our preparatory simulation work was driving lines from back then. Of course quite some progress was also made on that side, and, with the level of detail we can get today, we will most probably just have to do some fine tuning during free practice. We’ve been informed that the tarmac is moderately abrasive, and we don’t expect very hot ambient temperatures. Based on this information, we rate Pirelli’s choice of soft and supersoft as appropriate.'
The total race distance is 71 laps which is the equivalent of 307.146KM as the Red Bull Ring is a distance of 4.326KM over over one lap.
© Ben Johnston 2014
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