Mixed feelings during qualifying for the Sauber F1 Team at the Russian Grand Prix. Felipe Nasr made it into Q2, and will be starting the race in P12, while Marcus Ericsson will start the race from P17. In the morning, shortly after half way through FP3, Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso) had a massive accident. Fortunately, the spaniard is uninjured. After that, FP3 was red flagged and around 15 minutes before the end of the session cancelled.
Marcus Ericsson
“Qualifying was a bit like going into the unknown because of the limited track time in FP3. Qualifying did not work out as planned. On my first run I got a yellow flag when I was on my flying lap. For the second set we unfortunately had issues with sensors on the tyres, so we did not know their correct temperatures. This is obviously not ideal in qualifying. All in all, it was not a satisfying session for me, ending with a disappointing result. We need to fight back tomorrow.”
Felipe Nasr
“It was a good qualifying. A very close competition. As I did not run the supersoft tyres on short-runs in FP3, I had to find my rhythm quickly to understand them. Luckily during qualifying we made the right changes and got the tyres to work in the right window. We can be pleased with this result. P12 is a good position from which to fight for some points tomorrow.”
Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal
“Because of the fact that all the practice sessions were influenced by different circumstances, neither driver was able to complete the planned programme. Because of this, we had no trouble-free qualifying, which mainly affected Marcus. Felipe was able to improve, therefore, starting from P12 is a good position from which to fight for points.”