It was a good day of testing for the Sauber F1 Team. The priorities today were aero tests and practice of race weekend procedures. Esteban Gutiérrez completed several short runs in the morning and race simulations in the afternoon. Overall he completed a total of 106 laps.
Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering:
“Today was a good day. We got through the programme smoothly. In the morning we were testing various aero maps and managed some race simulations in the afternoon. This means, in addition to the long runs yesterday, we are gaining more experience with the fuel management system. We covered a lot of race mileage and didn’t allocate many new tyre sets to the runs. We were able to really get into race weekend procedures. With a new car it’s always important to get the drivers and pit crew up to speed for the first race. This year it will be even more important to effectively manage all those routines, and we made progress in that regard today.”
Esteban Gutiérrez:
“The mileage we covered today was great, and these were the most laps in one day for the team so far. From a reliability point of view, I think we are doing well so far. After some aero work this morning I was able to get into the long runs and race simulation. I also managed to get a feeling for different settings, including fuel saving, and that worked quite well. The pit crew and the engineers are working incredibly hard, and together we were able to get used to race weekend procedures.”
Each driver has one test day remaining before the team heads to the first Grand Prix of the 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship in Melbourne, Australia. Tomorrow Adrian Sutil will be driving the Sauber C33-Ferrari, with Gutiérrez taking over again for the final day of pre-season testing on Sunday.