Sauber F1 Team driver Pascal Wehrlein says that issues with the balance of his car made the Japanese Grand Prix an extremely difficult race for him on Sunday.
The German advised that he was unable to push to his maximum, as the C36 was at times completely undriveable, an issue the team will be looking into ahead of the next round of the season. The feeling is however, that contact with another car at the start of the grand prix, may have caused the performance problems the Sauber driver was experiencing.
In the end, Wehrlein crossed the line as the final classified driver of fifteen finishers, but was two laps down on race winner Lewis Hamilton, having been forced into a three-stop pit strategy.
It was not the sort of performance the German had been expecting prior to the race getting underway, and not being able to push made it a disappointing result for the 22-year-old at the end of the day.
“I cannot be satisfied with today’s race.
“I had issues with the balance of the car from the beginning of the race. I was not able to push as much as I would have done under normal circumstances.
“We are now looking at our data and trying to find the causes. Overall, a disappointing race for me here at Suzuka.”
Wehrlein is now looking ahead to the next race in the USA, and is hoping the car will be back to normal, so he can put in a much-improved performance on American soil.
