• Sauber news

Gutierrez working on qualifying improvement

Esteban Gutierrez has been outqualified by his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg at every race so far this season © Sutton Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Race:
• Monaco Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Esteban Gutiérrez

• Teams:
• Alfa Romeo

Esteban Gutierrez says he is focusing on improving his qualifying performances relative to his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.

Hulkenberg has outqualified Gutierrez at all five grands prix so far this season having never dropped out in Q1, while Gutierrez boasts a best grid position so far of 14th place in Malaysia. Ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix - a race where qualifying is even more crucial than usual - Gutierrez says he is working hard to improve his performances on a Saturday.

"Of course it is a challenge to put a perfect lap together," Gutierrez said. "I think it's a matter of confidence and something that will come with time. Of course it's a point where I can improve and where I want to improve, and I'm going to work on that in the next few races to try and close that gap."

Looking specifically at the Spanish Grand Prix, Gutierrez said the final gap between himself and Hulkenberg - 0.404s - was not a fair reflection of how close they had been for the rest of the weekend and more down to Hulkenberg pulling out a strong lap.

"He really put together a really good lap, I have to say. From my side in qualifying it's a matter of finding a little bit more and more between each run and it's probably where I need to work a little bit. I'm sure this will come with time, I could feel a lot better generally through the weekend; there was not a big gap during practice, during qualifying, just in the last run it was more than two tenths. But generally on average the gap was closer compared to other races and this is something where I will focus and try to close that gap step-by-step and maximise my performance."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.