Qualifying - Brazilian GP report: Sauber Ferrari

For the Sauber F1 Team the Saturday ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix could not have been more disappointing: After identifying issues on Marcus Ericsson’s car, the Swede was not able to run a proper lap in FP3. As his Sauber C35-Ferrari’s engine needed to be changed, he was delayed going into Q1. Also Felipe Nasr could not run through his planned programme in FP3, as there were engine issues as well – however, his engine did not have to be changed. Ericsson and Nasr finished qualifying in Interlagos in P21 and P22.

Marcus Ericsson

“First of all, I am very thankful that my car crew managed to change the engine between FP3 and qualifying. They did an extremely good job in between the two sessions, having a very limited amount of time. Qualifying itself was rather difficult. Yesterday we had issues during my stints, so I could not do as many laps as we wanted in FP2. Because of the engine problem in FP3, I could not run a proper lap. We were on the back foot going into qualifying. With all that in mind, we could not have expected much more.”

Felipe Nasr

“I am very disappointed with this result. I was on a good lap until Turn 11. Then in Turn 12 I came across traffic, which cost me some time on the way up to the finish line. I also had a misfire at the end of this lap. My chances for a good lap time were over then. I am disappointed that I could not get a clean lap. Now I will focus on tomorrow. Anything can happen here because of the weather conditions. I will stay positive for my home race.”