Sauber struggles to get tyres working
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is famous for its tricky grip level which makes set- up work for the Canadian Grand Prix difficult. Neither Pedro de la Rosa nor Kamui Kobayashi is yet happy with the balance of their respective cars. But both are confident of improving on Saturday, as they covered a lot of mileage today and gathered all the necessary data.
Pedro de la Rosa, C29.03 / Ferrari 056:
1st Practice: 17th / 1:20.584 (21 laps)
2nd Practice: 15th / 1:18.658 min (34 laps)
“It was a difficult day. We tried to find a good balance for the car on a very slippery track, which is not easy. But I think we have a clear understanding of the tyre compounds and can improve the car after we analyse the data tonight.“
Kamui Kobayashi, C29.01 / Ferrari 056:
1st Practice: 15th / 1:20.186 min (33 laps)
2nd Practice: 16th / 1:19.142 min (38 laps)
“Although the track improved a bit compared to this morning, the lack of grip was a major problem and both tyre compounds degraded very quickly. We had hard sessions today, but we do have time to improve the car for tomorrow.“
James Key, Technical Director:
“The conditions were very difficult to start with this morning. It was a case of running the car in the medium-downforce configuration. Kamui had to learn the circuit today, and for Pedro it was about getting a feeling for the car with the lower downforce level. We are lacking general grip at the moment. When it’s there, the car looks reasonable, when it’s not it turns into a difficult situation. We need to look into how we can maximise the general grip of the car by not only analysing where we are with the aero setting, but mechanically as well and see if we can improve the car over one lap. The race pace looks reasonable, but we have to see how the tyres are performing. So we have some work to do.”
