F1: Felipe Nasr: From the cockpit at the Russian GP

Felipe Nasr 15/10/2015 at 10:0015/10/2015 at 09:09

Felipe Nasr is in his debut season racing in F1 for Sauber. He will write exclusively for F1i.com after each round of the 2015 season to provide insight in to the life of an F1 driver.

What a difference 10 days make!

After the Japanese Grand Prix the whole Sauber team headed back to Hinwill and there they performed the magic. The troublesome car in Suzuka disappeared and in its place a brand new mannered F1 machine was put on track in Sochi.

There was limited track time for everybody because of the diesel spillage and the accident of Carlos Sainz - it was great that nothing happened to Carlos, who I have known since he started in Formula BMW some years ago - but in spite of that, the car was very good from the first outing.

We managed to carry out a nice bit of fine-tuning and try some strategic alternatives that took us to Q2, almost to Q3 and steered us towards a good tactical choice for the race

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work

I don’t know who said that but he was more than right describing how good it is to drive a perfectly balanced F1 car. The speed, the feeling through he corners the braking efficiency and the way it treats its tyres. It is exhilarating I can tell you; something that reminds us why we love some much what we do and choose to do it again and again.

This, close to perfection behaviour, comes only after a straight collaboration with the team, with a joint effort that is rewarding for all. Thanks guys, as I said these points for the 6^th place are for you!

Be happy with what you can accomplish

I'm very happy I have to say, it's been a long time that I haven't been so far up there. I was surprised how quick the car was, especially on the supersoft tyres. We were able to pull away quickly and the lap time was getting quicker and quicker. The team did a fantastic job strategy wise, and I'm so glad we brought such good points for the team.

The race was intense, from the beginning to the end. People are just pushing all the way, because we have a very particular way that the tyres worked in Russia, and I think you see the cars going more extreme here as well, working harder the brakes, and everything else; the engine and so on. It's a track where it's possible to overtake. I’m also glad that the race came towards us a bit with safety cars and some late retirements, so I have to be satisfied. I promise to keep working to accomplish even more!

Well, in two weeks’ time we will head to Austin in Texas for the United States Grand Prix, where we hope our car will work well again on another very fine and smooth track.

As usual you will read all about it here on F1i.

Felipe