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Sauber pleased with 'honest' pace

ESPNF1 Staff
March 15, 2011 « Brawn admits to pre-season worries | »
Sergio Perez set an encouraging time at the Circuit de Catalunya © Sutton Images
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Sauber insists that its pace at Barcelona was genuine, having brought a major update to the final pre-season test.

Sergio Perez topped the timesheets on the third day with a qualifying-style run, and ended the week with the third fastest time - quicker than either of the Red Bull drivers. Sauber's technical director James Key said that the team was "honest" with its testing program.

"Performance is very difficult to judge because performance ultimately is relative to the competition," Key said. "I think we have been quite honest with the way we have been testing, and ran lower fuel levels only on the last two days in Barcelona, which gave us a little bit more of an idea of where the car is. It looks quite tight but it is really difficult to judge. I think we are satisfied we have made the sort of progress we wanted to make over last year's car in some specific areas."

Key was pleased with the progress the had team made since the previous test and said that its development schedule was intense, with the next upgrade already planned for the second race in Malaysia.

"The good news is the fairly big update we took to the second Barcelona test for the start of the season seems to have worked the way we hoped it would. The important thing now is we continue to push and bring further updates as soon as we can. We have some big updates planned and will bring several new parts to the second race."

All of the teams have been getting used to the new Pirelli tyres ahead of the 2011 season, which have been designed to degrade more quickly in order to enhance the possibility of overtaking. While drivers were quick to voice concerns with the tyres' performance, Key said a better understanding had developed further into the testing schedule.

"The tyres certainly need managing on longer runs, and I think in race conditions this is going to be crucial. There are various ways of dealing with them and we need to see how the strategy tends to emerge in the first few races to optimise that. The rear tyres are a little bit stronger than we first thought they would be."

The higher wear rate will lead to more pit stops, with Pirelli confirming that it is expecting an average of between two and four stops per race. Key said this would open up various strategy possibilities, with heightened demands on the pit crew and engineers.

"We will see more complicated and detailed strategies now," he said. "There will be more pit stops and the pit crew will be under more pressure, not just to ensure every pit stop is as quick as it can be, but also to react very quickly should the need or opportunity to change tyres comes up in a race as a much more critical part than it was before. Also for the engineers on the pit wall strategic decisions are far less predictable than before. I'm sure we will learn a lot more about how to handle it in the first few races."

Perez is embarking on his first season in Formula One © Sutton Images
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Alongside the tyres, Sauber has had its own unknown quantity in rookie driver Sergio Perez. With time in the car at a premium during the pre-season, Key was impressed with how the Mexican had improved over the winter.

"Sergio has developed very well over the past four tests," Key said. "Looking at where he started at the Valencia test in early February and where we are now after only six weeks, he has made enormous progress. He has learned an awful lot, his feedback has improved on a test by test basis, and his confidence in the car has also improved a great deal.

"He made a good effort when we did our race and qualifying runs with him at the last Barcelona test. He drove the car for the first time on low fuel and new tyres, and he really made good use of it by going quicker and quicker. However, it will be a very different kind of pressure at the start of the season, but so far it has worked well and now he is looking forward to the race."

Sauber has an inexperienced driver line-up, with lead driver Kamui Kobayashi only entering his second full season in Formula One. Key said the team is pleased with his performance, although he hinted that the new tyres were causing more of an issue for Kobayashi as he was comfortable with last season's Bridgestones.

"He [Kobayashi] is playing a very proactive role in helping in the direction the car is developing and giving a very good driver's perspective of where we are. He's got a bit of work to do in adapting to the tyres, because he is used to the tyres of the previous supplier, while Sergio isn't, so it is a little bit more difficult to adapt for a driver who was in F1 last year."

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