Sauber drivers Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi were both concerned with their car’s performance after struggling on Friday in Brazil. The pair were fourteenth and fifteenth respectively and Perez admits he is going to have to rethink his set-up before tomorrow.
“It was a good day in terms of getting done everything that was on the programme. We did a fair amount of work, but the heat just doesn’t suit us. I found the car very difficult to drive this afternoon and I think some big changes are required. The difference between the two tyre compounds is really marginal. Let’s see how we can improve.”
Kobayashi put the poor performance down to the heat and the effect it was having on the tyres, something he is eager to get to the bottom of.
“We did a lot of set up work today and also tested some aerodynamic items. We had a busy day, but performance wise we are not good yet. Because of the high track temperatures the rear tyres overheated. The lap times were slower in the afternoon than in the morning. The rear is really weak and so far I don’t know how to cool the tyres. We will now work on that.”
The teams tried out Pirelli’s developmental 2013 tyres in FP1 and Giampaolo Dall’Ara, head of track engineering, thought the session was useful looking ahead to next year.
“With regard to today’s programme, everything went well including the evaluation of Pirelli’s tyres for next year. That was important for the 2013 car design. With regard to this weekend, we will have a long night ahead of us as we are struggling with the grip, but we have collected a lot of data regarding down force levels and set up. Now we just have to put it all together to understand where we can find performance and hopefully to be where we want to be tomorrow.”
