- Sauber
Nasr convinced Sauber can score points in 2015
Felipe Nasr thinks Sauber's winter so far suggests it is on course to banish the memory of 2014 and return to challenging for points this season.
Sauber suffered its first pointless campaign last year as it struggled with the uncompetitive C33 and the underpowered Ferrari power unit. Pre-season testing so far suggests there has been an improvement with the latter and rookie Nasr is encouraged by the gains he's seen over the winter from the aerodynamic side.
When asked if points were still the main focus for Sauber, Nasr said: "Completely. We are completely focused on those points and all want to get back to [scoring] points. We all want to get back to points and I think we need to go back to the areas we saw over the winter and from the car last year that we need to improve.
"I would say it's not only one area but many areas that have had to improve. We know we are lacking downforce [last year], this is quite clear. But from the chassis side I think there is some improvements, this is quite clear, and of course the Ferrari engine is a step ahead from where it was last year."
The Brazilian thinks it is impossible to accurately predict the pecking order during testing but he says Sauber has made visible improvements, not just since last year but over the last four weeks.
"It's difficult to say because you need to have other teams as a reference as well. It's difficult to judge where our main rivals are at the moment because we don't know. For us, we've been working a lot on our performance side and I can say to you there is a step forward from last year and a step forward from Jerez to here. The whole car got a bit more consistent and we improved our long runs as well, how we managed the tyres, a little bit better. It's a steady process but it's all going in the right direction."
Both Marcus Ericsson and Nasr had lengthy delays on the final two days in Barcelona but the Brazilian says that is part and parcel of testing.
"We've been trying different things to sort out and of course the more we run, the more mileage we do, the more problems we can see and can solve. This is the good thing about testing, the problems only come when you have a lot of running on the car and you go through different programmes and can see by the end of the day what is necessary to pick up those positives and negatives and then move to the next stop."
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