Team founder Peter Sauber has played down the significance of Robert Kubica’s quickest lap time on the first day of Sepang testing on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old Pole outpaced even championship leader Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari, whose mileage was reduced at the circuit near Kuala Lumpur by a hydraulic problem.
Observing the test’s progress from the distance of a vacation in the Maldives, however, Sauber observed to the Swiss newspaper ‘Blick’: “Everyone knows that Kimi never goes flat out just for testing.”
Sauber will fly to Malaysia on Friday.
Kubica, meanwhile, struck another gearbox problem at Sepang, after failing to finish the Australian grand prix with a similar glitch.
He was quoted as saying on Tuesday by the Bernama news agency: “The performance of the Ferrari cars is like a machine from another planet.”
His pace at the Sepang test aside, Kubica therefore ruled out charging for his maiden win at the same Malaysian venue next Sunday.
“McLaren and Ferrari, especially Ferrari, is not our target,” Kubica added.
“We have to be realistic. If I can finish in the top five, I’ll be happy.”
