Sauber spent Friday simulating qualifying conditions in a bid to ensure they make better progress during the three knock-out stages which decide the grid for each race.
Kamui Kobayashi completed several qualifying runs on the final day of the penultimate test to set the quickest lap seen over the four days, a 1:22.312.
Whilst it’s hard to read too much into test times, the lap seems impressive when it’s compared to his 2011 qualifying lap at the same circuit.
Kobayashi posted a 1:23.656 in Q1, his fastest lap of the day, to qualify 14th, meanwhile his teammate Sergio Perez posted a 1:23.367 to qualify 12th.
Kobayashi’s time during testing on Friday is over a second quicker than Perez’s best – both times were set on the soft tyre with light fuel loads, suggesting the team has made significant progress.
“It was another positive test day for us,” said Giampaolo Dall’Ara, the teams head of track engineering. “Qualifying was actually a weakness of ours in the last two seasons and we have to resolve this. This obviously requires proper practice.
“Kamui started with the medium compound before he used two sets of soft tyres, and in the end he got his first taste of the 2012 super soft compound. He did his fastest lap on the second set of softs.
“This lap time now stands as the overall fastest for this week, but of course this doesn’t mean much because proper comparisons are never possible during testing with each team running different programmes.”
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