Sauber Italian Grand Prix Qualifying Saturday
Italian Grand Prix – Qualifying – Saturday, 06.09.2014
Weather: sunny and dry, 22-26°C air, 32-46°C track
In qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutiérrez came in 15th and 16th, achieving more or less the positions which were realistic for the Sauber F1 Team on a high speed track like this one. Esteban made a mistake on his final lap, and Adrian lost time in the third free practice due to a hydraulic issue on his car, however, this didn’t really change the overall picture.
Esteban Gutiérrez (car number 21):
Sauber C33-Ferrari (Chassis 01/Ferrari)
Qualifying: 16th in Q2 (1:26.692 min / medium tyres)
3rd practice: 12th (1:27.207 min / medium tyres / 18 laps)
“Overall it was a good qualifying, and we tried to get the most out of the car. A few more tenths would have been possible considering that I made a small mistake on the last lap. I want to thank all the responsible people at Ferrari because they have been fighting hard to get closer to the other engine manufacturers. We are working together as a team, and we are making progress. Obviously, we are still missing quite a lot of time to some teams in front of us, but we tried to get the maximum out of the car today.”
Adrian Sutil (car number 99):
Sauber C33-Ferrari (Chassis 03/Ferrari)
Qualifying: 15th in Q2 (1:26.588 min / medium tyres)
3rd practice: 15th (1:27.498 min / medium tyres / 12 laps)
“It was a solid qualifying without having any issues. After the technical problem we had during the third free practice session, everything went well in qualifying. At the beginning of the session the driveability of the car was difficult, so we made some changes to the tyre pressures and the aerodynamic set-up. The balance of the car improved lap by lap, but it took a while in order to feel more confident. With the last lap I am quite satisfied, but the 15th is the maximum at the moment. Tomorrow we have to make the best out of it during the race.”
Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering:
“Apart from the hydraulic issue on Adrian’s car that cost us a bit of track time this morning, the day went pretty smoothly. In qualifying our drivers were always at the limit extracting the potential out of the car. Esteban might complain about a mistake in his final lap in the Ascari chicane, but this wouldn’t have changed the big picture. We are more or less were we can be on a high speed track like this. In the race we have to make sure we are ready in case something unexpected happens.”