Sergio Pérez finished the first day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona with seventh position during a day where small problems kept Sauber in the garage.
The 22 year-old Mexican was able to complete 66 laps in the C31, clocking a best time of 1.24.219, just under a second behind Sebastian Vettel who rounded the day off at the top.
“It wasn’t an easy day for us," said Pérez, who begins his second campaign for the Swiss team in 2012. "Nevertheless during the 66 laps we collected some very useful data, which we will analyse tonight, so in this regard it was still a satisfying day. I am very much looking forward to tomorrow and I hope we can get a lot more work done then.”
Head of Track Engineering for Sauber, Giampaolo Dall'Ara was able to shed more light on the problems that thwarted them over the course of the day.
“We obviously didn’t cover the mileage we wanted to today," said the Italian. "But such things happen in testing. In the morning we had some doubts related to the structure, which didn’t occur in Jerez and therefore appear to be track related.
"In the afternoon we then had another unforeseen break due to a mechanical issue with a rear anti roll bar. Not actually a big issue, but quite time consuming as the gear box had to be removed again, etc. So now we will concentrate on our test programme for tomorrow and hope for a rather smoother session then.”
Pérez will return tomorrow for a second turn around the Spanish venue before team-mate Kamui Kobayashi enters the fray for the final two days.
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| Pos. | Driver | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  S. Vettel | 01:23.265 | 79 |
| 2. | N. Hulkenberg | 01:23.440 | 97 |
| 3. | L. Hamilton | 01:23.590 | 114 |
| 4. | D. Ricciardo | 01:23.618 | 76 |
| 5. | F. Alonso | 01:24.100 | 75 |
| 6. | M. Schumacher | 01:24.150 | 51 |
| 7. | S. Perez | 01:24.219 | 66 |
| 8. | B. Senna | 01:25.711 | 97 |
| 9. | H. Kovalainen | 01:26.035 | 31 |
| 10. | R. Grosjean | 01:26.809 | 7 |
| Full results | |||
| Sergio Perez | |||
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| More Sergio Perez photos | |||
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