The practice day ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix went according to plan for the Sauber F1 Team. The Swiss team was able to run plenty of laps in order to generate valuable information for the hottest race weekend of the season. On the new asphalt on the Sepang International Circuit, Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr were able to run a total of 48 and 44 laps respectively.
Marcus Ericsson
"It has been a good first day here in Sepang. It was a typical Friday, preparing for the weekend with short and long runs on different tyre compounds. We also continued our aero measurements in order to get more information out of the aero package. Overall it was a troublefree day on which I was able to run a good amount of laps. Now I need to sit with my engineers to analyse the data in order to improve."
Felipe Nasr
"It was a normal Friday. Due to the new asphalt, we could see that the track surface is much smoother compared to last year. We had to reassess all the tyre information to understand how the car reacts in order to work on its balance. When we did the long runs in the afternoon we had some cooling issues, because of the engine limitations for the practice sessions. It forced us to reduce our running, but these issues will be sorted out for tomorrow. Otherwise, we need to work on the car’s balance for the rest of weekend."