The Sauber F1 Team has come back from the summer break in fine style and has recorded its and its drivers best qualifying results so far this season in Spa-Francorchamps ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix. Kamui Kobayashi was second at the end of the session in his Sauber C-31 Ferrari – his previous best being fourth this year in China. Sergio Pérez was fifth, so bettering his sixth place from Barcelona.
Weather: dry, partly cloudy, temperatures, 12-16°C air, 19-28°C track
Kamui Kobayashi:
Sauber C31-Ferrari (Chassis 04/Ferrari 056)
Qualifying: 2nd in Q3 (1:47.871 min / new medium tyres)
3rd practice: 4th (1:48.863 min / new medium tyres / 20 laps)
“I am very happy for the team and myself. We had felt quite positive before we came here, but I think it is fair to say we didn’t expect to be second and fifth in qualifying. We have had strong races this year, but qualifying has been a weakness and the guys have done a great job to improve this. I want to thank them very much. After not having time to learn much in either practice session on Friday because of the rain, like everyone else our first dry running was this morning and after free practice three we knew we were quite good. I will be on the front row tomorrow and this is certainly nice, but we don’t score points for that. The podium must be the target and to reach it we still have a long way to go. We have to get the tyre management and strategy right and cannot allow ourselves the smallest mistake.“
Sergio Pérez:
Sauber C31-Ferrari (Chassis 03/Ferrari 056)
Qualifying: 5th in Q3 (1:48.219 min / new medium tyres)
3rd practice: 3rd (1:48.850 min / new medium tyres / 23 laps)
“Second and fifth are really good qualifying positions for our team and I am pleased for the crew. Personally I’m not too happy because my last lap in Q3 wasn’t perfect. I had the feeling the car was performing differently to this morning. In any case, the most important part comes tomorrow. It will be a very challenging race on a demanding circuit. I need a good start and I want to fight the people in front of me because I know the car will allow me to do that. I am definitely targeting another podium.”
Monisha Kaltenborn, CEO:
“It is a fantastic result for the team and our best so far. I think it is very important after the break that we have come back so strong. We have seen the potential and always said if we could just be further up the grid we could show so much more. We are in that position and it is now up to us to continue that trend tomorrow. Hats off to the team at home that has done such a good job getting a good car here, and also to the team in Spa which has done a great job so far.”
Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering:
“Perhaps we should have a wet Friday at every race! Free practice three this morning was quite tough after we had all lost so much time yesterday. We had to put together a lot of work in an hour, which went very well. We found some performance and then in qualifying everything went according to plan. Now let’s keep concentrated for the race.”
Written By: Sauber F1 Team
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