Kaltenborn: Wehrlein will remain a starter at Sauber

Pascal Wehrlein will remain the starter this season at Sauber F1 Team despite its absence at the start of the first two Grands Prix of the year, and even the 3rd contested on April 16 on the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain. This is Monisha Kaltenborn, the Team Principal of theHinwil, who assured this during a press conference held this Friday, April 7 in the paddock of the Chinese GP in Shanghai.

“He was declared fit to fly by the doctors from the tests, explained Monisha Kaltenborn. The next question was whether he felt capable and whether he could be 100% throughout the race. We know that it is now very difficult for the pilots, they say so themselves. In any case, he is working hard on his physique. »

“It's very hard to say when he will be back, but our common goal is for him to return as quickly as possible. The ideal would be for him to return during the next race, but it will perhaps only be for the next one (the Russian GP contested on April 30 in Sochi). What is certain is that he remains our starting driver and that will not change”, assured Monisha Kaltenborn.

Giovinazzi highlights himself

Antonio Giovinazzi is in any case taking advantage of the convalescence of Pascal Wehrlein, injured following an accident at the Race of Champions in Miami (Florida) last January, to showcase himself at the wheel of the Sauber C36. The Italian notably took 12th place at the Australian GP on March 26.

“We were all very impressed with how quickly this all came together., commented Monisha Kaltenborn. We had no idea that we were going to find ourselves in this situation when we arrived with Pascal in Melbourne because he really wanted to ride given that he is a very ambitious driver. He gave up his place when he realized he had a responsibility to the team. We only had one night to call Antonio who had the first pre-season test session with us in Barcelona (Spain), but he had a great race without experiencing any major problems despite the conditions being completely different. »