Belgian GP: Practice notes - Sauber

31/08/2012

Heavy rain all day in the Ardennes meant there was very little running on the Spa-Francorchamps track. In the first free practice the Sauber F1 Team was able to gather information on how the Sauber C31-Ferrari would perform in the wet with Kamui Kobayashi fastest and Sergio Perez sixth. In the afternoon all the teams opted to spend most of the time in their garages. During the two sessions ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix the team covered a total of 44 laps.

Kamui Kobayashi: "I feel very sorry for the spectators here in the grandstands. We did some running in the first session, but in the afternoon we basically stayed in the garage. There wasn't anything to learn out there and it is obviously pretty easy to damage the car in these conditions. I can't say much except: Welcome to Spa - and welcome back to reality. I didn't see a drop of rain for the five weeks I have just spent in Tokyo and Hawaii."

Sergio Perez: "Unfortunately for all of us the conditions today didn't allow for any proper driving to kick off the second part of the season. It is such a shame for the brave spectators. I believe the fans in Spa really love Formula One and today we left them disappointed. I hope we can make up for this tomorrow and on Sunday and put on a good show."

Giampaolo Dall'Ara, Head of Track Engineering: "Other than to praise the accuracy of the weather service, which was so precise, there is not much to say about today. We prioritised a bit more running in the morning as the conditions were looking worse for the afternoon. I can't even say we were able to learn anything for the race, as the forecast for the next couple of days is for dry conditions. We just got our basic homework done, with start practice and systems checks."

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