Saturday: Sauber and Gutierrez narrowed the gap with their competitors
At least one side of the Sauber garage was smiling after the qualifying session as Esteban Gutierrez encountered no problems. He managed to make it to Q2 and secure the 14th fastest time. However, Adrian Sutil's power unit faced difficulties once again, preventing the German from doing better than 17th.
Esteban Gutierrez (No. 21) – 10th and 14th
During a very difficult season for his team, the Mexican experienced a rare bright spot in Singapore. Indeed, during free practice, he managed to break into the top 10, a feeling he hadn’t experienced for a very long time. Similarly, in qualifying, his machine was not an impediment to his performance: « I’m happy with today’s result. In qualifying, we were able to extract even more than we expected. We did the best we could with what we currently have. »
The young driver almost scored points on the Monaco street circuit before making a mistake that sent him into the wall. He therefore hopes to make the most of the Singapore streets: « Tomorrow won’t be an easy race but we will fight to get the most out of the car. We will continue to work hard and focus on the race. »
Adrian Sutil (No. 99) – 16th and 17th
Once again, Adrian Sutil’s qualifying was marked by technical problems. Indeed, as yesterday, his engine caused him numerous issues: « It’s really a shame that the qualifying didn’t go as well as we hoped. On the other hand, we’ve had problems with the power unit and energy management since yesterday. Because of that, we weren’t able to extract all the power in qualifying, which cost me a lot of time on the straights. Under these circumstances, unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to do better than Q1. »
His mechanics and engineers will therefore spend a good part of the night and tomorrow’s day trying to find a solution before the start of the race.
