25/11/2011
NEWS STORY
Covering 143 laps in total, the Sauber F1 Team had a busy first day of practice ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, the final race of this year's FIA Formula One World Championship. Kamui Kobayashi had two trouble-free sessions, while Sergio Perez was stopped by a gearbox problem in the afternoon.
Both the Sauber F1 Team drivers have special helmet designs for the season's finale. While Kobayashi is displaying a design by the rock band Linkin Park for aid for Japan, Perez has created a special design with the intention of commemorating his rookie season in F1. On his helmet where it is usually white it has become silver with a chrome finish, the black parts have turned into gold and the Mexican flag has been placed on top of the helmet.
Sergio Perez: "I was on a long run with heavy fuel and the soft tyres when a gearbox problem stopped me. It is a shame I could not complete the run. With lower fuel the car was quite okay on the soft tyres. However, we still have some work to do for our qualifying performance. Force India looks strong here, but the cars from Renault and Toro Rosso look reachable."
Kamui Kobayashi: "I have done a lot of laps today. Actually the degradation is quite high with both tyre compounds, which would be tough in the race if the temperatures stay like today. But there is also a chance of rain. I had no problems with the car but we are working on improving the balance, which isn't quite right yet."
Giampaolo Dall'Ara, Head of Track Engineering: "In the morning we concentrated mainly on the set-up of the car using the two sets of test tyres Pirelli have provided for this event. In the afternoon our main focus was on the race preparation. We only used the compounds that are allocated for the weekend, which are soft and medium. We made a tyre comparison, which included runs with high fuel loads. Unfortunately Sergio had to stop early due to a gearbox problem.
Check out our practice gallery, here.