Peter Sauber says Rookie Sergio Perez surprised him in the Australian Grand Prix – Formula 1
Sauber team boss, Peter Sauber, hailed new recruit Sergio Perez, who initially finished his first Grand Prix in the seventh position before being disqualified. Sauber said that the rookie has more than impressed the team by doing almost 40 laps on a single
set of super-soft tyres.
Sauber’s duo, Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi, finished the race in the top ten positions. Perez was ahead of his experienced team-mate Kobayashi in seventh position and scored six points in his opening race. Both team-mates secured 10 points for the team
but hours later they were disqualified from the race. The race Stewards examined their cars and found that their car’s rear wing was in violation of Formula 1 laws after which they were placed at 16th and 17th spot respectively.
Sauber spoke about the incident and said that the team will not be fazed by the disqualification and the engineers will go through the car once again. Talking about the performance of Perez, Sauber was very pleased and said, “Yes, I am surprised. My first
impression was okay....... also during the pre-season tests we were happy with him but in the race he was outstanding.”
The Pirelli tyres were controversial at the start of the season and lots of driver’s feared that more pit stops would be needed during a race. Many drivers did three pit stops and only a few did two stop. But Perez was the only driver in the Australian Grand
Prix who did only one-pit stop and completed almost 40 laps on a single set of Pirelli’s super-soft compound.
Talking about this performance, Sauber commented, “Thirty-five laps with used soft tyres, that is incredible. It was never a decision - it was absolutely clear to do a second or third stop.” Sauber further added that the race engineers talked with the driver
and it was Perez’s decision to keep the tyres on for a full race distance. Although he did lose some race-speed at the end, he still was able to finish ahead of his team-mate Kobayashi and almost snagged some points for the team.
The next race of the 2011 season starts in Malaysia in less than a week and the Sauber team will have to start from zero points on the table.
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