Team Talk - Sunday in Shanghai

Sauber Ferrari 

Nico Hulkenberg

“It’s been a character-building day for us. Unfortunately, right after the start I went wide in turn one and then almost lost the car in turn three, when I went off track through the gravel. I lost a couple of positions in that moment but, more frustratingly, I picked up substantial damage to the floor of my car which significantly affected the aero balance. I think our performance wasn’t too bad pace-wise, considering the damage we carried. The positive takeaway from today is that we finished the race and got mileage to gain some experience with the new car. It’s still early days, and I am already looking forward to go again in Suzuka in two weeks’ time.”

Gabriel Bortoleto

“Today was definitely not an ideal race; after Lap 1, it was all about recovering and getting as much information as possible about the car. Although our position wasn’t favourable, it was good to be able to continue and finish the race as it was my first full dry race. I took it as a chance to learn more about tyre management and our pace, understanding how we stand compared to the others. It’s difficult to say where we could have been with a cleaner race; I obviously wanted this weekend to be more positive. It is what it is, now we move on and get back to the factory to analyse our learnings from these first two races and prepare for Suzuka. I am really looking forward to racing there; I practiced it a lot on the sim, and I am keen to finally drive on the real one.”

Beat Zehnder, Director Signature Programs & Operations

"It’s unfortunate that our race was effectively decided on the first lap. Nico had a big snap in turn three and nearly spun: he was able to save it but ended up running over the kerb and gravel. Telemetry showed he lost a major amount of aerodynamic performance immediately afterwards and that made it a very challenging race for him: to Nico’s credit, he brought the car to the end despite such difficult conditions. Gabriel’s race was also compromised in the opening stages: he was battling Bearman when he lost downforce and spun, losing considerable time and requiring an early stop for new tyres. From there, it was always going to be difficult to make it back. On a positive note, Gabriel’s pace in the final stint on hard tyres was strong, matching our direct competitors. The encouraging takeaway is that both cars completed the race, our overall pace throughout the weekend was encouraging and the operations went smoothly, even with the added challenge of yesterday’s incident in the Sprint. There’s still plenty of work to be done, of course: the field is tight, and every marginal improvement counts on track. Whichever team brings those tenths first will gain the advantage, so we must keep pushing hard.”