Sauber drivers Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi were both left scratching their heads after struggling in Friday Practice at Marina Bay. The pair were fifteenth and sixteenth respectively, a stark contrast to their competitive showings at the lower downforce circuits of Spa and Monza.
Perez was heard complaining of a lack of grip over the team radio and admitted he never felt totally comfortable with the C31 this evening.
“For me it was a difficult day because I was never really happy with the balance of the car. It felt inconsistent and a bit unpredictable. We now have to analyse the data carefully and find a way to improve the car.”
Kobayashi suffered a similarly frustrating night with a lack of confidence at the rear of his Sauber and has stressed the importance of solving the problem.
“The first session when we were evaluating parts was quite positive but in general our performance was rather weak today. I had way too much oversteer. It is great to go racing in Singapore again but it is important that we improve the balance and set-up because you really need confidence in the car here.”
Head of Track Engineering Giampaolo Dall’Ara was blunt in his assessment of the team’s current position this weekend and doesn’t see an obvious fix to the problem.
“Despite the rain affecting the first session and the red flag affecting the second session massively, we were able to complete our programme. However, the problem is that we are significantly too slow. There seems to be a major problem, but we don’t quite understand what it is. We will certainly have a long night analysing all the data. First we have to understand what’s wrong, and then we will have to find the right measures to cure it.”
