Montreal: The first two free practice sessions at the Canadian Grand Prix were not perfect for the Sauber F1 Team. Due to rain in the first session, the team could not complete the testing programme as planned. Esteban Gutiérrez took this opportunity to gain experience in a Formula One car in different weather conditions. The second session saw Nico Hülkenberg struggling due to a build problem on his car.

Nico Hülkenberg says, “It was a difficult Friday. The rain this morning didn’t allow us to run through our programme as planned. It’s extremely difficult to test new parts, especially the new tyre compound, in these conditions. Despite the rain that was forecast, FP2 was dry. The afternoon, however, was also difficult. The car felt undriveable and mid-session we found a set-up error. But even after we corrected that, we still had difficulties. I am not happy with the current set-up, we have to improve that and have quite a bit of work to do before tomorrow.”

 

Esteban Gutiérrez said: “All in all we tested a lot of different set-ups today so we could find the right balance. But it’s quite evident we need to find a lot more speed. We are definitely not where we want to be and we need to work as a team to improve and have a better overall speed. The track is really fun to dive on in a Formula One car - I like it a lot. You can attack the kerbs, you have the high-speed braking and it’s a good challenge overall. The change of weather conditions has actually been good. It was important to gain experience on the intermediate tyres. The forecast is still unsettled, and I think we are more competitive in the wet.”