11/06/2011
NEWS STORY
Another eventful day for the Sauber F1 Team in Canada: The team had to build up the spare chassis for Kamui Kobayashi after the Japanese crashed in yesterday's second free practice. In third free practice this morning it was Pedro de la Rosa who hit one of the walls at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. However, for qualifying both Sauber C30-Ferraris were ready. In view of everything that has happened, 13th for Kobayashi and 17th for De la Rosa are solid results.
Kamui Kobayashi: "It is a difficult weekend for us. After I crashed yesterday the team had to build up the spare chassis for me. My biggest problem here is driving over the kerbs. I have an overall lack of grip and find it really tricky to get to the limit with the car. Nevertheless today the balance of the car improved a bit. I could have gone a few tenths quicker on my last flying lap. I was attacking quite hard and it was good until the middle of the second sector, as I then had a problem with using the rear wing and almost lost the car before the chicane. Our race pace should be good and I'm focusing on getting points tomorrow."
Pedro de la Rosa: "It is obviously a very eventful time for me. Yesterday morning I didn't expect to sit in a racing car, and this morning I actually didn't expect a lot from qualifying. It is not easy to familiarise yourself with the car and all the new buttons in such a short space of time. Of course, the crash I had this morning didn't help either. I lost the car and then also a bit of confidence goes. I am very happy the team managed to repair the car and I want to thank them. Anyway, every time I jump into the car it goes better. I'm quite pleased with the outcome of qualifying and I'm optimistic for the race. The Sauber C30 is always stronger in the race than in qualifying. I want to get points for the team as that is what I'm here for."
Peter Sauber, Team Principal: "First of all I'd like to thank the mechanics who have had a lot of work this weekend, and did a fantastic job to get two cars ready for qualifying. Kamui finished qualifying in P13, and that's the same position he had in Monaco where he was able to deliver a great result. Considering Pedro only learned yesterday after one o'clock that he was going to race this weekend, he did an excellent job making it into Q2. Congratulations!"
James Key, Technical Director: "We had a busy morning to try new set-ups on both cars. For Kamui the priority was to help with the kerbs and warming up the tyres. He just felt a lack of grip yesterday, so we did a lot of work last night to try to improve the car in that respect. It got a little bit better, but we still struggled with making the tyres come in early enough for a good performance in qualifying. That's something we needed to work on in the latter part of FP3. For Pedro it was important to get some more laps in the car and learn a little bit more about both tyre compounds, as well as the car's behaviour, the systems on the car and the set-up changes we made for him overnight. For Q1 we put him on two sets of super softs, because he didn't get a full run in the morning, and he had no feeling for the super soft tyre in terms of grip. He did a good job making it into Q2, where he ended just three tenths behind his team mate. A really good effort considering he hadn't driven in race conditions since last season. It was a very short call yesterday, and we thank him for all his efforts. Kamui did well to get the tyres to work a little better, although his best lap wasn't quite optimal. I believe there's more to come for tomorrow. I don't think we could have made it into Q3. We are not a hundred percent satisfied, but under the circumstances it's still okay where we are. The race is a totally different story."
To check out our Montreal qualifying gallery, click here.