During the free practice sessions for the Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo di Monza, the Sauber F1 Team continued testing the passive DRS system. Unfortunately FP1 ended early for Sauber F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg because of a gearbox issue. The problem was located and repaired in time for the second session. For Esteban Gutierrez it was a positive day and the team was able to run through the programme.

To highlight the new partnership between Grupo CP (Interprotección) and Unifin, which was announced this week, the rear wing end plate of the Sauber C32 is going to display Unifin's logo for the Italian GP. Unifin is one of Mexico's leading financial institutions specialising in Leasing, Factoring and Auto Credit.

Nico Hulkenberg: "It was quite a challenging day. This morning was compromised a bit by a gearbox issue, which we were able to solve before the afternoon session. When doing the long runs I felt more comfortable in the car than with low fuel. We definitely have some room for improvement there. We have to look into the data and analyse what happened, because I think we can be more competitive. Otherwise, as usual, we were learning about the tyres and the set-up."

Esteban Gutierrez: "It was a very productive Friday, without any issues on the car. We were trying to find the right balance and set-up of the car in the morning. In the afternoon, we made a decision, which wasn't the best. Overall it looked positive and we have very good data to analyse so we can make the right decision about the set-up of the car tomorrow."

Tom McCullough, Head of Track Engineering: "We split the development items between the two cars today. In FP1 Esteban got further mileage on the passive DRS system that is targeted for races later this year. Unfortunately we lost some time in FP1 for Nico with a gearbox problem, which we were able to fix, so both cars ran reliably in FP2. We evaluated some alternative rear wing levels and concentrated on the long run performance of the tyres at these high track temperatures in preparation for race day. It looks like the mid field is going to be tight. We still have some work to do to get the most out of the car and we'll start out preparations for qualifying now."

Check out our Friday gallery, here.