Sauber duo Marcus Ericsson and Charles Leclerc praised the team’s turnaround after coming within reach of Q2 during qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.
Sauber has targeted a return to Formula 1’s midfield this year but finished a sizeable eight-tenths off the pack on Friday – the same gap that covered the bulk of their mid-grid opponents.
Ericsson and Leclerc placed 17th and 18th respectively, the Swede coming within a tenth of making Q2, as they avoided the back row of the grid.
“The work done overnight by the engineers on track and at the headquarters in Switzerland paid off,” he said.
“All in all it was a good qualifying today. We have made good progress since yesterday when we were quite a long way off the competition.
“We should be proud of the work that we have put in since then because it made a big difference.
“We are still not where we want to be, but today we were really close to Q2. We do have a lot of work ahead of us, but we are in the fight which is nice to see.”
Leclerc felt a mistake through Turn 4 prevented him from qualifying higher up the grid but was encouraged by the improved feel of the C37 after initial struggles.
“It was a positive session overall because we did not expect to be so close from Q2,” he said.
“On the other hand I’m a little bit disappointed with myself because I did an error in Turn 4 which cost us a little bit of time and we knew we were very close from Q2.
“We have done big steps forward, the car is easier to drive and easier to push to the limit and I think this is very positive.
“We need to keep going that way, but we understood quite a lot here.”
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