Friday: Sauber lacking speed

Esteban Gutiérrez (No. 21) – 14th and 15th

The Mexican from the Sauber F1 team experienced issues during the first session of the day, but things went better afterwards: « Today was not an ideal day. We had a gearbox problem this morning, but we were able to fix it for the afternoon. The team did a fantastic job of reassembling the gearbox. In the afternoon, we went out quite late and lost time. However, we managed to complete the basic program that had been planned. But we need to use today’s data to continue improving. We are clearly lacking speed, and our pace is not what we want it to be. »

Gutiérrez, however, struggled with his brakes today, mainly due to the specific nature of the Australian track: « Regarding braking, the track is very bumpy. So, it’s quite difficult and unpredictable in this area. Overall, we haven’t had time to work on the car’s settings for now, but considering the day, we need to keep working for free practice 3 and try to be ready for tomorrow’s qualifying. »

Adrian Sutil (No. 99) – 15th and 14th

Like his teammate, Adrian Sutil did not have a good time during the practice sessions of this first Grand Prix of 2014: « It was a difficult day. However, the afternoon was better than the morning. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do much during the first free practice because many elements did not go the way we wanted at the moment. »

The German driver also believes that Pirelli did not make the best tire choice: « I think the tires are too hard because it was a cautious approach, but I have to manage that. »

Like Gutiérrez, Sutil believes that the Sauber team must improve the speed of the C33 to be at its best during qualifying and the race: « We must improve our speed and our processes. We need to ensure that the small things that were standard last year are in place and perfect. »