Sauber wants to give Gutierrez time

The Sauber team started this new season with a completely new pair of drivers. With Sergio Pérez leaving for McLaren and Kamui Kobayashi sidelined due to financial reasons, it is the two young drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez who have taken over the two seats.

If the German driver has already made a name for himself by scoring points twice, notably with a fine 8th place in Malaysia, the 21-year-old Mexican, the youngest driver on the grid, is struggling to properly kick off his season.

The only representative of his team in Australia after a problem with Hülkenberg’s car, Gutierrez finished the race in a distant 13th place after mediocre qualifications. In China, he even collided in the race with Adrian Sutil and received a five-place grid penalty for the Bahrain Grand Prix after being deemed responsible for the incident. After another difficult race, he finished 18th behind Charles Pic’s Caterham.

Results that are enough to worry the Sauber leaders who have trusted him. However, Monisha Kaltenborn tempers the situation and also points to the lack of efficiency of the car at the start of the season, as she confides to *Autosport*: « There is much to do with the performance of the car. So, we must be cautious and not make a judgment after only four races. But indeed, we need to keep a close eye on Esteban and his performances to see if they meet our expectations. We have no doubt about his mental abilities and his ability to understand his problems and overcome his difficulties. But he is struggling at the moment, and we need to focus on this because we know he has the ability to succeed. »

Of course, Kaltenborn is a bit disappointed that the Mexican isn’t fully able to exploit the performance of the Sauber and his own abilities. But she knew that by hiring an inexperienced young driver, patience would be required: « Consistency is not present at the moment. But of course, when hiring a young driver, this is to be expected. But I think after four races, it’s still too early to make this kind of assessment. »

However, the performances of Gutierrez must not take too long to manifest. Sauber is a small team, and it needs convincing results to survive: On one hand, you can’t wait too long, but on the other, you need much more because we have very limited opportunities. It’s a very difficult balance between the two. You have to give him a chance, but at the same time, we know that as a team we don’t have much luck and everything we achieve in a season can have a financial impact on the future. It’s quite complicated…