It was another tough day on track for the Sauber F1 Team, and they remain the only team on the grid to not score points in 2016 after Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson could only finish seventeenth and twentieth in the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Nasr felt it was a difficult afternoon on his side of the garage after being stuck in traffic after his first pit stop, but despite feeling he had good pace, he was unable to capitalise on that, finishing 1.470 seconds behind Daniil Kvyat.
“A tough race for us,” said Nasr. “The beginning was ok, I gained one position after the first lap. But then after my first pit stop I got stuck in traffic, which slowed us down and cost us some time.
“Overall, I had decent pace during the race, especially on the soft tyres. We have to keep on working hard to become more competitive step by step.”
Team-mate Ericsson finished twentieth after starting the race from the pit lane following his qualifying crash, the second time in as many race weekends that he has started there, and despite trying to be aggressive with his strategy, was unable to get ahead of anyone apart from the Manor of Rio Haryanto after being forced to make a second pit stop after struggling with his tyres.
“Starting the race from the pit lane was obviously a difficult beginning,” said Ericsson. “After the race start I got stuck behind Rio (Haryanto). That was not ideal, as this track is in general difficult for overtaking.
“We tried to be a bit more aggressive on the tyre strategy. It was looking ok around the middle of the race, but a few laps before the chequered flag I had to pit again, as the tyres would not have lasted until the end of the race.”
