Felipe Nasr says his strong sixth-place finish in the Russian Grand Prix could prove crucial for Sauber, as the Brazilian already looks ahead to 2016.
The F1 rookie had narrowly missed out on a Q3 appearance at Sochi but was able to make steady progress from P12 to end up amongst the points-paying positions for the second time in three races.
This enables eighth-placed Sauber to cut the gap to Toro Rosso to 11 points in the Constructors’ race, with the Swiss outfit simultaneously pulling further away from McLaren-Honda.
Mindful of F1 prize money being based on teams’ results, Nasr, who has since long been confirmed at Sauber for 2016, hopes his performance can be a boost for his squad.
“Any help right now is good,” said the 23-year-old. “We know that our situation is not easy, our package has limitations and the more points we score that will help us and motivate people to work even harder for next year. The more we do now the better.”
Nasr’s Russian GP showing was his best performance since finishing fifth in Melbourne’s season opener. While the GP2 Series graduate admits the chaotic final laps and Kimi Raikkonen’s post-race penalty helped his cause, he insists that Sauber had the tools to challenge on merit at Sochi.
“This was a very good race, especially in the first half of it. The pace of the car was really, really good especially with the supersoft tyres so I tried to do the longest stint possible because the balance of the car was really good. After the pit-stop I lost a little bit of time behind the McLarens.
“I was a little bit lucky in the end because some cars in front didn’t finish the race, but the car had good pace and I knew how to take advantage of the chance that I had.”
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