Jerez, Day 1: Sauber test report

The Sauber F1 Team enjoyed a successful roll-out of the Sauber C33-Ferrari in Jerez. At about 20 minutes past 11.00 this morning, Esteban Gutiérrez took to the track for the very first time in the C33 with the V6 turbocharged engine. During the day he completed seven laps.

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering:

“The main target today was to get the car on track and the team has done a brilliant job over the winter to accomplish that on time. Obviously with the significant changes there were issues that needed to be solved throughout the day. We have to understand and analyse those properly, which is why we couldn’t run that much today. What we did today was a good achievement for the team and now we have a lot to work on for tomorrow.”

Esteban Gutiérrez:

“It was a big achievement to get our car on track on the first day of testing, and I am proud that I was the first one to drive it. Especially because of all the rule changes, it is very complex but the team has done a good job. The feeling in the car is not what I have been used to. The engine and the power it produces and the sound are very different, but we will get used to that. It’s just a different characteristic. It was important to get some running today. These four days of testing are to see if all the systems are working, and that’s the most important. It is way too early to comment on the drivability. We will get there during the second and third per-season tests in Bahrain. We will get the electronics and everything else sorted first and I think we are going in a good way to achieve that.”

Tomorrow Esteban will be driving the Sauber C33-Ferrari again. Adrian Sutil will take over on Thursday and Friday.