Bahrain II, Day 3: Sauber test report

The penultimate day of testing saw the Sauber F1 Team go from one extreme to the other – the most amount of laps in one day yesterday, the least amount of laps in a day today. After the installation lap the team was forced to abandon the morning session. The crew was working hard to get back on track, however, at a certain stage in the afternoon the team decided to fully focus on the final day of testing tomorrow.

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering:

“Unfortunately today we have encountered an anomaly on the engine and as a precautionary measure we decided to change it, which meant that we could only manage one lap in the morning. However, assembly takes considerably longer and at a certain stage during the afternoon we decided to focus on tomorrow and be ready for the final day of testing. The crew worked tirelessly and hopefully tomorrow we can get on with our programme.”

Adrian Sutil:

“This is why we are testing. Of course I would like to drive as much as possible, but you have to look at the overall picture and the team decided to focus on and get ready for the final day of testing tomorrow. I would rather have these issues appearing here at the test than on the first race weekend. It shows how complex the new car and powertrain are and that we are exploring them to the limits. Although the garage doors were closed, the engineers and mechanics worked incredibly hard and hopefully we’ll have a better day tomorrow.”

For the final day of testing tomorrow Adrian Sutil will be driving the Sauber C33-Ferrari in the morning, with Gutiérrez taking over in the afternoon.