Kobayashi and Sauber expect to be strong in Montreal

Returning empty-handed from Monaco, the Sauber team hopes to get back to its good habits from the start of the season in Montreal, starting with Kamui Kobayashi who keeps last year’s performance in mind: « Last year, I was second on the grid for the restart after the red flag, due to weather conditions, but we suffered from tire temperature issues, and I’m sure we’ve definitely improved in that area with this year’s car. We’ll have to see what we can do, but I think Montreal is one of the places where we can be strong. […] There are long straights but also slow corners. I think our car seems good for that. I hope we can have the performance we want. »

In 2011, however, the Canadian adventure was cut short for Sergio Pérez who, after his violent accident on the streets of Monaco, had to be replaced by Pedro de la Rosa: “This will be my first Canadian Grand Prix as last year, I only did a few laps during the first free practice session before realizing that I wasn’t well enough to drive. I really didn’t feel well in the car, which was a consequence of my accident in Monaco last year,” recalls the Mexican.

Like his teammate, Pérez also hopes to achieve a good result in Montreal, where he wishes to return to scoring points for the first time since his podium in Malaysia: « I think that sometimes, in the last races, we have been very unlucky, but the pace is there as my lap times proved during the race in Monaco. I want to do a good job in Canada and score as many points as possible. It’s a fast and flowing circuit where you can sometimes be close to the walls: it’s challenging and exciting. »

But to succeed in Montreal, the Sauber team, which will bring a new rear wing for medium downforce as well as some minor modifications on its C31, will have to face the various challenges posed by the Canadian circuit: The Montreal track is narrow with walls that are very close in some areas. It offers interesting challenges. The first is finding the right aerodynamic balance because the level of downforce and drag is lower than on most other tracks. The time spent on the straights requires maximizing speed, while the slow-speed corners are characterized by changes of direction. Therefore, the car must be well-balanced under braking, need good traction, and must be responsive. Another interesting challenge involves Pirelli, which has decided to offer us the Super Softs and Soft tires, as we had in Monaco. We don’t expect to encounter problems with the Super Softs in qualifying, but after that, the most difficult part will be finding the right race strategy to get the most out of the tires, explains Gianpaolo Dall’Ara.

The head of track engineering also indicates that, unlike in 2011, there will be only one DRS zone, although he admits he does not expect it to make a big difference because it is normally possible to overtake on the Montreal circuit.