Sauber still unsure of performance due to rain
For the Sauber F1 Team the first day of free practice at the Korean International Circuit was incident free, but, due to a massive lack of grip in changing weather conditions, there wasn’t much to learn either.
Originally the team had planned to do further work on the new aero package which was introduced last weekend in Suzuka, but proper set-up or fine tuning was impossible as the track never dried on Friday. For Saturday dry conditions are expected, and everyone is keen to see how the track conditions will evolve then after the circuit basically hasn’t been used since the inaugural Formula One Grand Prix one year ago.
Sergio Pérez, Sauber C30-Ferrari (Chassis 03 / Ferrari 056):
1st Practice: 9th / 2:04.797 min (8 laps) / 2nd Practice: 16th / 1:55.203 min (24 laps)
“It is a shame but there wasn’t much more we could have done today. There was just too much rain, and I didn’t do a single lap on dry tyres. For me it wasn’t an ideal Friday at all, as I don’t know the circuit. Now tomorrow I won’t have much time to get the balance of the car right.“
Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber C30-Ferrari (Chassis 02 / Ferrari 056):
1st Practice: 6th / 2:03.292 min (13 laps) / 2nd Practice: 17th / 1:55.544 min (23 laps)
“There was no grip at all. The track itself has a very low grip level, and on top of that our car doesn’t make very good use of the intermediate tyres. In general I don’t mind driving in the rain, and with the full wet tyres it was no problem, but later with the intermediate tyres I was struggling a lot. It seems to take a long time for this circuit to dry out. In any case, I hope we will have dry conditions tomorrow.”
Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering:
“As the forecast predicted, it was a rainy day. However, for the remainder of the weekend we expect dry conditions, so we just did some running to do some checks on the car. We know we will have a very full programme tomorrow to do all the work necessary to find a good dry set-up.”
