Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn has said that she intends to keep an close eye on the former reserve driver Esteban Gutierrez, who has been promoted to the role of a first-team driver this season. In order to replace the outgoing Sergio Perez, the team decided to promote Gutierrez from his role as the reserve team driver. However, it has not been a great first four races of the season for Gutierrez, as he has been overwhelmingly outpaced by his teammate Nico Hulkenberg.
However, Sauber has said that they will not be making any knee-jerk reaction after the poor start made by Gutierrez, but they will instead be focusing on in the forthcoming races in order to help him.
Kaltenborn has also laid the blame on the car not being up to the standard for Gutierrez as one of the reasons for his inability to perform. She has said that it is too early to write off the season because it is only four races old. She has also rejected suggestions that the team should start focusing on the 2014 season by building a new car. Several new regulations will be coming into effect from the next season including new engines. As a result, there have been several teams already focusing on next season.
“A lot has to do with the performance of the car, so you have to be careful not to start making assessments after four races, but yes, we have to keep a very close eye on him and see if the expectations are satisfied or not. We have no doubts about his mental capabilities to get on top of things and understand them, but he is struggling at the moment with his performance. So we need to try to focus on get that potential out because we know it’s there,” said the Sauber team principal.