Sauber F1 Team Bahrain qualifying 18.04.2015: Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix – Qualifying – Saturday, 18.04.2015 Weather: FP3: sunny and dry, 28-30°C air, 36-41°C track; Qualifying

Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix – Qualifying – Saturday, 18.04.2015




Weather: FP3: sunny and dry, 28-30°C air, 36-41°C track; Qualifying: dry, 25°C air, 31-30°C track


Solid performance by the Sauber F1 Team in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, the first night race of the 2015 season. With 12th (Felipe Nasr) and 13th (Marcus Ericsson) the two Sauber F1 Team drivers missed out on making it into Q3, however, in regard to tomorrow’s race they are both in promising positions.


Marcus Ericsson (car number 9):
Sauber C34-Ferrari (Chassis 02/Ferrari)


Qualifying: 13th in Q2 (1:35.034 min / soft tyres)
3rd practice: 13th (1:36.612 min / soft tyres / 17 laps)


“First of all, FP3 was a difficult session. I struggled a lot to get a good feeling in the car and it was quite windy on track. Towards the end of the session we managed to sort things out and drivingwise it felt better. In Qualifying we knew beforehand it would be a close competition.


Certainly, we would have liked to be in Q3 again, but overall we did a decent job. We are in good shape for tomorrow’s race.”



Felipe Nasr (car number 12):
Sauber C34-Ferrari (Chassis 01/Ferrari)


Qualifying: 12th in Q2 (1:34.737 min / soft tyres)
3rd practice: 10th (1:36.429 min / soft tyres / 18 laps)


“It was a shame to just miss out on Q3 because of less than a tenth, but I think we extracted the maximum out of the car. It was difficult in Q1 as some of our competitors seem to be very strong. Twelfth is a good starting position for tomorrow.


Considering our good pace during the long-runs, I am confident about fighting for points.”



Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal:

“It’s a very tight result, as could be expected. Nevertheless, these are satisfying positions for the start of the race. Based on our long-runs, we are able to see that the chances for points are there, and that’s what we have to concentrate on.”



Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering:

“In FP3 we had a bit of a more troubled session than we were expecting. The weather changed, as it was windier with more sand on the track. We had to follow up on the set-up of our cars, but I think by qualifying we were there.


The session went quite well. However, we were hoping for something a little better, but we are not far off the competition, and with the places we achieved we are in a good position for the race tomorrow.”
 

- Hans Peter Brack, photo Sauber