Sauber F1 Team driver Marcus Ericsson says he struggled with the balance of the C36 during the 2017 Russian Grand Prix, and could not get the tyres to work properly, which made for a difficult race at the Sochi Autodrom.
“It was definitely not a satisfying race for us, especially the first stint after the safety car which was just not good.
“I was struggling a lot with the balance of the car and the tyres were not working properly so I had difficulties keeping up with the pace of the cars in front of me. The second stint was ok, and I was able to make up some ground to the car in front of me.”
The Swede felt that they had a much better set up during practice and qualifying and was at a loss to what changed so dramatically on race day. The Hinwil based squad will now need to look at what went wrong on Sunday, to ensure they can come out fighting at the next few races.
“Overall I felt we took a step back in terms of the car balance in the race compared to the rest of the weekend.
“We need to analyse what we can improve to be more competitive in the races for the upcoming GP weekends.”
Sauber have remained close to the back of the grid for the majority of the 2017 season so far, and the Swiss team may well be regretting their decision to use one-year-old Scuderia Ferrari engines this season.
