Jerez, Day 3: Sauber test report

Adrian Sutil took over the wheel of the Sauber C33-Ferrari for the first time today. He was happy to be in a car again and work with a new team. Unfortunately an accident ended the day an hour early for the team.

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering:

“There is always a lot to learn when a driver who is new in the team jumps in the car for the first time. Adrian was no exception, so on one side it was enjoyable to start the work on track with him, and on the other it was another busy day with its highs and lows. The experience we are accruing, mostly on the power-unit and brake-by-wire system side, is very valuable in preparation for the season. However we had some delays, and eventually an accident left us short of the planned mileage. It was a number of factors coming together that led to this incident. We will work hard overnight to repair everything and be ready for more testing tomorrow.”

Adrian Sutil:

“It was nice to be back in a car, as well as in a different team for the first time. It was a pleasure, and the team has done a fantastic job to get the C33 ready. It is very different to drive, as it has much more torque and sounds different. It’s very quiet, but the power is definitely there. It’s early on, so the systems are not always working exactly as they should. But we did a few decent runs. Our biggest issue was the brake-by-wire system, so we still need to work on that. Also to get a feeling for the tyres is quite tricky. The hard tyre is very hard, so it is going to be a big challenge to make them work. Towards the end of the session we did a few installation laps. On the last one the tyres lost a lot of temperature, it caught me by surprise when I accelerated out of the corner, shifting up from third to fourth on a straight line, and suddenly the car snapped and I went off. It’s all repairable but it will be a long night.”

Adrian Sutil will be driving the Sauber C33-Ferrari for the final day of testing tomorrow.