Monisha Kaltenborn says the progress shown by Ferrari and Sauber so far this season shows how bad the 2014 power unit was.
Sauber scored points with both cars in Australia, with Felipe Nasr fifth on debut while Sebastian Vettel finished third for Ferrari. Vettel then followed up with a shock victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday to demonstrate what an impressive step forward Ferrari has taken, and Kaltenborn says the improvement compared to last season is huge.
“It is a very big step,” Kaltenborn told F1i. “It’s for the experts to know what it means in time and it will also depend from race to race, but I think it also shows you what kind of a handicap it was last year. If you now get your powertrain more competitive, you get your chassis more competitive you can see what kind of step Ferrari can take.”
Sauber again looked competitive in Malaysia but Felipe Nasr damaged his front wing in contact with Kimi Raikkonen on the opening lap before Marcus Ericsson spun out trying to overtake Nico Hulkenberg. However, Kaltenborn says she was encouraged by the team’s potential once again.
“I am absolutely convinced without these two incidents we would have scored, maybe even with both cars. Which gives me a comfort that Australia wasn't just a fluke, it was because of our performance there. I get the same comfort from Malaysia, it was possible, so we go with that confidence to the next race.”
Click here for a more lighthearted look at some of the scenes from the Malaysian Grand Prix
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