Sauber are optimistic that the tyre problems which gave them quite a few headaches in India won't be an issue at next weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez qualified 17th and 20th respectively at the Buddh International Circuit as they struggled to get their tyres warm quickly. It didn't go much better for Kobayashi during the race as he crashed out early while Perez finished in 10th place.
Technical director James Key says they have some fresh ideas on how to deal with the tyre problem and is upbeat the drivers will fare better during qualifying in Abu Dhabi.
"The car will be the same specification we had in India," he said. "We have, however, several new approaches to some of the mechanical set-up, coming off the back of a difficult qualifying in India, where we just couldn't get the tyres to work.
"We think Abu Dhabi will be better for this, but nevertheless we looked into this in detail and we will go with some fresh ideas to make sure we've got everything covered if tyres are the problem. In the race in India we got back to where we should be competition wise, and we clearly also need to be at that level in qualifying in Abu Dhabi."
Kobayashi admits the change in temperature when the sun sets makes it difficult for drivers.
"The challenge doesn't really come from the changing light, but the track temperature drops significantly when the sun sets," he said. "This makes it quite difficult to adapt during the race. I also like the track layout and I think it is an exciting event and race for everybody."
