In the opening three races of the season the Brazilian has openly struggled with the C35 and for the most part has been outshone by his teammate, Marcus Ericsson both in qualifying and the races.

Whilst there were reports that Sauber would provide the Brazilian with a new chassis this weekend, the team's well documented financial issues appeared to place the move in doubt.

Not so, Nasr told reporters in Sochi this afternoon, though he was determined to point out that the term 'new car' is not all it appears to be.

"I can confirm I do get a new chassis here," he said, "although you have to remember an F1 car is made of many components and it is just one part of it.

"It is a sensible step from the team, since we have been looking further at the issues I am having, the handling issues I have had. Since we put the car on the track in Australia, we had this strange behaviour, it was very unpredictable, so we have a new one here and we see how it goes."

Asked if he or the team had been able to identify the root of his unease with the car, he admitted: "We could not identify it, but there are so many places to look at, for this we need resources and time.

"The cars haven't been back at the factory," he added, "it would be good to have a look at every detail if we could. I am sure they are doing what they can with what they have right now."

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