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Problems leave Sauber 'far from its best' - Perez

Sergio Perez: "We are far away from our best" © Sutton Images

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• Drivers:
• Sergio Perez

• Teams:
• Alfa Romeo

Sergio Perez has admitted the Sauber C31 is proving problematic, but is still confident it has the potential to be competitive.

His first morning at this week's Barcelona test was cut short when the team became concerned about the structure of the chassis at the high-speed Circuit de Catalunya. After contacting its base in Switzerland, Sauber found a mechanical solution in the afternoon and sent Perez back on track. However, it suffered a separate problem with the rear anti-roll bar in the afternoon and that proved time-consuming to fix.

"We didn't complete our programme at all," Perez said. "We expected a lot more laps but we had some issues and we had to stop for quite a while. So it was not an ideal day, but anyway we have good information today to sleep easy tonight. This is a good point and hopefully tomorrow we can have a lot more information than today."

He said the car has potential, but that the team was struggling to discover it due to its problems.

"We are far away from our best, but this is why we have to focus to maximise our potential and to make the most out of the car," he said. "At the moment we are not able to make it because we have too many problems and the set-up is not quite there, so I'm confident we can improve more."

He added that the C31 was currently experiencing more issues than the C30 at the same time last year.

"At this stage I would think so. I think so far we have had more issues that take longer to solve. But everybody is having problems and I don't think anybody is able to complete their programmes. The good thing is that they are happening here [in testing]. We have to find a solution for them."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.