(Sauber F1 Team)
The Sauber F1 Team came back to reality at the Malaysian
Grand Prix on Sunday following their fantastic start to the season in Melbourne
two weeks ago as Marcus Ericsson was forced to retire from the race after getting
his C34 stuck in the gravel.
Following his fantastic Formula One race debut in Australia
two weeks ago where he finished in fifth place, Felipe Nasr was left frustrated
as the Brazilian finished the Malaysian Grand Prix in 12th place
just behind the Lotus F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean.
As a result of the Malaysian Grand Prix, the Sauber F1 Team
have lost ground in the Constructors championship and currently in 4th
place on 14 points. Speaking following the race Marcus Ericsson stated:
‘It is a very frustrating end to a good weekend.
I felt comfortable in the car straight away and had a good start during which I
could make up one position. Nico (Hülkenberg) must have had a good start as he
was ahead of me, but I felt I had more pace than he did. When I tried to pass
him down to Turn 1, I went for the move to the outside. I know it is possible
to overtake there, but unfortunately I lost the rear, went off and got stuck in
the gravel trap. Anyway, we need to take the positives out of this weekend, and
I have learned from what happened in the race. In China we will be even
stronger.’
In Australia two weeks ago Felipe Nasr finished the race in fifth
place however in Malaysia on Sunday the Brazilian could only manage to finish
in 12th place and speaking following the race he said:
‘It was overall a difficult weekend for me. I
was struggling to find a good set-up for the car. We need to reflect and
understand why we didn’t have enough pace. The race itself was not easy, as I
had contact early on with Kimi (Räikkönen). I should have avoided this incident,
but it can happen sometimes when we are racing. Now we have to look forward to
the next race weekend in China.’
The Swiss based outfit remain in fourth place in the
champion on 14 points, 16 behind the Williams Martini Racing Team. Speaking
following the race Sauber Team Principal Monisha Keltenborn stated:
‘It’s a shame that today we were not able to
score points, because, for sure, the opportunity was there. Unfortunately, both
drivers were involved in incidents in the first few laps. For Marcus the race
was over, and Felipe’s chances were significantly reduced. But he fought
strongly afterwards, although unfortunately he was not rewarded with points.
This result is obviously disappointing, but there are also positives we can
take from this race weekend. Our package is competitive, which puts us in a
position to fight for points. We have to make sure that we grab these chances.’
Sauber’s Head of Track Engineering Giampoalo Dall’Ara
stated:
‘On the technical side it was another flawless
afternoon without any noteworthy issues, which is the positive we can take out
of this race. Unfortunately we had both drivers involved in incidents within a
few laps, and our planned strategy was destroyed. So we had to reinvent the
race with only one car, because Marcus was out. We switched from three to four
stops, which was not planned. Nothing was wrong with that, but after the early
incident the race was lost. It’s obviously a big disappointment.’
© Ben Johnston 2015
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