Postive practice sessions ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix for the Sauber F1 Team in terms of pace, finishing with both cars in the top ten in FP2. However, the team could not work through the race preparation programme properly due to a red flag at the end of the second free practice. Marcus Ericsson made a mistake in the high-speed Pouhon corner. Because of that, the Swede hit the wall, but luckily he is uninjured.
Marcus Ericsson
“In FP1 we tried different set-ups on the car. In the afternoon we then continued to build on FP1, doing short and long-runs on the soft and medium tyres. Especially on soft tyres, I was satisfied with the balance of the car. Unfortunately, at the end of the session I made a mistake in Pouhon. I touched the grass, the car snapped and I hit the wall. I want to apologise to the team for this incident, which has given them a lot of extra work. It is racing, sometimes it happens, but when it happens it is, for sure, frustrating. Before the accident it had been a good day for us, and some of the outcomes from what we were doing were positive.”
Felipe Nasr
“I had two good practice sessions today. I am satisfied with the overall balance of the car, which gives us a good direction for the weekend. In the morning the temperatures were cooler, so we knew there was room for improvement. For FP2 we then made the right changes to the car. I still have some small margin for improvement on soft tyres, as I was stuck in traffic on my best lap. Overall I am quite pleased that the engine specification is a benefit for us here in Spa. It is a good start to the weekend, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us.”