Qualifying - Abu Dhabi GP report: Sauber Ferrari

In qualifying ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on the Yas Marina Circuit, neither of the Sauber F1 Team drivers was able to make it into Q2: Felipe Nasr finished with his Sauber C35-Ferrari in P19, whereas Marcus Ericsson ended up in P22. As was the case for today’s qualifying, the race will start under floodlights at 5 pm local time (2 pm CET).

Marcus Ericsson

“A disappointing qualifying for me. The car has been difficult to drive throughout the weekend, especially on the ultrasoft tyres. We were already struggling to find a good feel on them yesterday in the practice sessions. We knew that it would not be an easy qualifying. On my last lap in Q1 it was a shame that I pushed a bit over the limit and locked up the tyres into Turn 17. I lost all my lap time there. When it comes to tomorrow, the long-run pace was looking encouraging compared to the short-runs, so I am still optimistic that we can be stronger in the race.”

Felipe Nasr

“I felt that I extracted the maximum out of the car today. Although it was not enough to make it into Q2. I had a clean lap on my second set of ultrasoft tyres, so putting in a decent lap time. It was positive that we were able to make the tyres work better than on my first set. Besides that, I again had a misfire on my quick lap. Thinking about tomorrow, we need to make sure that we maintain our tenth position in the championship. This is our clear objective.”