From the cockpit: Felipe Nasr on Sauber's start to 2016

Felipe Nasr 12/04/2016 at 11:0011/04/2016 at 15:43

Now in his second season racing for Sauber, Felipe Nasr will continue to write exclusively for F1i to provide insight in to the life of an F1 driver

Hi everybody, I am already on my way to China after a very busy week where I had to be in Brazil for some important meetings. That added some 24 flying hours to my schedule and kept me from writing to you in my column. Better late than never so here we are, talking a little about Bahrain and reserving some words for the Chinese GP that is already knocking on our front doors.

Looking at the whole picture, my GP in Bahrain was one of those to forget. But F1 is more than ever about details and this is what keeps me so upbeat about the following races.

After a disappointing qualifying of only one lap and being the first (one of those moments where first is so negative) eliminated in Q1, there was nowhere I could go, but forward.

I had a very good start and managed to gain some spots and also managed to avoid some confusion ahead. Suddenly there I was in 9th place overall! Dreams do happen sometimes, but this one was very brief. Soon the natural order was established and I kept my head down to learn more about the car and its performances with the different tyres available and the ever-changing fuel loads.

The performance of the soft and supersoft tyres was encouraging and the 5th fastest time of the race is proof of that. In general, we are still in search of a better balance mainly under braking and I am sure that with the new parts we have in the pipeline the team will soon be back in the fight for points. We know this season we are fighting against some very efficient old and new rivals that started the year with full appetites.

Well, as promised, here are some words for the Chinese GP this weekend. In 2015 we made it through to Q3 and started in 9th place for a race that saw us once again in the points with a very good 8th place. Our top speed was very important on the long straights - which feature two DRS zones - and the whole team worked seamlessly in race strategy and pit stops.

This being my third time in China (in 2014 I did FP1 as the Williams reserve driver) I hope that all the good vibrations from my first two visits are waiting for us here in Shanghai. It is certainly an opportunity to improve on the last race.

See you all soon after China (I promise) to check how much the C35 was able to progress.