The Sauber F1 Team saw a driver make it through to the final part of qualifying for the first time in 2015, with Marcus Ericsson being the fortunate driver at Sepang, with the Swede managing to qualify tenth for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix, which will become ninth when Romain Grosjean takes his penalty.
Unfortunately for team-mate Felipe Nasr, one of the stars of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, the Brazilian did not make it through the first part of qualifying, and will start down in sixteenth position.
“It has been a great weekend so far,” reflected Ericsson. “I was able to finish every session in a top ten position, and we can be satisfied to have repeated that in Qualifying.
“In dry as well as wet conditions I felt comfortable in the car. At the end of Q3 we were quite close to our competitors, which is positive. It was another good day for us, so we can be happy with today’s result. Tomorrow we have a promising chance to again score points.”
Nasr revealed he had been struggling with rear grip throughout the weekend, but is confident of moving forward during the race, with the Brazilian admitting the long race pace of the Sauber feels stronger than its one lap qualifying pace.
“After the third free practice session we saw that we were still struggling with the rear tyres,” said Nasr. “In qualifying we seemed to have found something. However, on my second run on the medium tyres the rear wheels locked in Turn 4, and I lost time there.
“It has not been an easy weekend for me. We need to review what happened and learn for tomorrow. I’m already looking forward to the race. We know our car is competitive in race conditions, so I am confident about making up some positions.”
