It was another tough weekend for the Sauber F1 Team at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, with Pascal Wehrlein the team’s only finisher in sixteenth, while Marcus Ericsson was forced into retirement with just a handful of laps remaining.
Both drivers profited from the huge number of driver penalties following qualifying, meaning Ericsson lined-up eleventh on the grid and Wehrlein twelfth, but once the race got underway, they soon found themselves at the back of the field, hindered by the lack of pace of their 2016 Ferrari power unit.
Wehrlein felt he did as much as he could during the race, finding himself often battling for the same piece of racetrack as his team-mate, but he hopes Sauber can be more competitive next time out at the Singapore Grand Prix.
“I did my best today,” said Wehrlein. “We knew that this race would be difficult for us, but the whole team did a good job throughout the weekend.
“I am looking forward to Singapore now – it is a race that I particularly like and I hope that we will be more competitive there.”
Ericsson picked up damage early in the race but persevered on, until four laps until the chequered flag his team decided to withdraw him when data showed a potential problem was developing.
“It was a good start to the race from the middle of the grid,” said Ericsson. “I had some good fights, but when the race settled we struggled to keep up with the competitors in front.
“We knew that this type of track would be difficult for us. I picked up some damage at the beginning of the race. It was quite difficult to drive the car like that – so it was not the best race for me.”
