Esteban Gutierrez is hopeful that the Sauber C32 will prove as kind on its tyres as its predecessor after his final test day in the car before the new season. The Mexican rookie was prevented from completing a race simulation today by a water leak but the mileage he did cover gave him a good impression.
“It was an interesting experience to do a qualifying and race simulation. It gave me the opportunity to see how the car feels in qualifying and race conditions. The understanding of the tyres was a very important point, especially here in Barcelona where we know graining of the front tyres is a big issue. However, we were able to manage the degradation of the tyres quite well. Unfortunately we were not able to complete the race simulation due to a suspected water leak.”
Head of Track Engineering Tom McCullough was happy with the performance of the youngster despite the problem and believes he’s ready for his debut.
“Today was Esteban’s final day of winter testing. Our plan was to simulate qualifying and the race. Unfortunately we had a few reliability issues which we are still investigating. Nevertheless, we completed 99 laps and Esteban’s performance today was good.”
