Vital points “a dream come true” for Nasr

2016 Brazilian Grand Prix

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Felipe Nasr was ecstatic after scoring points in his home race and lifting Sauber ahead of Manor in the constructors’ championship.

Sauber had failed to score until today but Nasr’s two points for ninth place means they move up from last in the standings to tenth.

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“It was amazing,” said Nasr, who took his first points since last year’s United States Grand Prix. “It was like a dream come true.”

“I couldn’t have imagined a better way of scoring these two points. In a home grand prix, here in Interlagos. It feels amazing. Right now I cannot describe it, it just feels really good.”

The other Sauber of Marcus Ericsson crashed out early in the race. “It was a difficult race for everybody, difficult conditions,” said Nasr.

He had run sixth at one point but Nico Hulkenberg and the two Red Bulls passed Nasr in the latter stages of the race.

“We were able to hold the car on the track, hold some quicker cars,” said Nasr. “I was hoping the race was going to finish early on because we were a bit higher ahead.”

“I’m happy for the team. two points that will give them an extra motivation and also for the championship it’s super-important.”

“Sometimes it comes once and I was there to take it,” he added. “It was a while since I scored my last points in Formula One and it feels great. It tastes like a victory.”

“From the difficult side we were, the difficult situation we were facing, I feel like we all deserved it today.”

2016 Brazilian Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
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    18 comments on “Vital points “a dream come true” for Nasr”

    1. Good Job. I don’t like monisha and the way she does things, but i am sure a lot of people there are working really hard and had a difficult time. I hope they enjoy it.

    2. Yay Sauber!

      We’ve been waiting ages for this result, ages.

      1. Not if you support Manor you weren’t! ;)

      2. I agree. Yay Sauber. I do feel sorry for Manor, but Sauber are one of the longest surviving teams on the grid. I think it is important that they stay around and do more than hold up the back of the grid. They have been through some tough times, but it seems that they may bounce back next year. This extra money will help. For me, Sauber are a barometer of the health of F1. If a long running and well resourced team like Sauber is struggling at the back of the grid, then for me, F1 is in a bad state.

        I know lots (most) people hate Monisha, but I think she inherited the team at a bad time. People seem to hate Monisha because she has presided over a downturn in performance and mostly because of the quadruple driver signing saga. But I wonder who might have done better than her. The driver signing thing was unfortunate, but her actions allowed her to avoid the bankruptcy that befell Caterham and Manor that year. People also forget that Lotus would have also been gone if Renault hadn’t bought them. When times are tough, you have to make hard decisions for the greater good. Some people will always get burnt when that happens.

        People talk like Monisha destroyed those drivers careers. If those drivers were so awesome, they would still be in F1. Either because Sauber couldn’t afford to let them go, or because another team wanted them. But the drivers didn’t hold up their end of the bargain in delivering exceptional performance, so they became superfluous to Saubers (and F1’s) needs at the time. Fast cars with great teams win titles. Drivers can make a difference, but not as much as a fast car, so invest money in a car before a driver ever day of the week.

        Look, maybe Monisha is crap. I don’t know. What I do know is that you can’t polish a turd. You can dress it up in a suit, but it is still a turd. The car may not have been a turd when she took over, but the environment that the team was operating in was. In effect, the team she inherited was a turd (as a result of FOM and FIA rules) and the clothes fell off while she was in charge. But to her credit, the turd didn’t get flushed like all the other turds that were on the grid back then. It’s not their fault they were all turds, FOM and the big teams ate them at a gourmet lunch and deposited them. They didn’t get a choice in it.

        Monisha seems to have signed a really good deal to keep the team alive and to be in a position to build again. They have made some really good signing of staff in the past few months. I like Sauber and I hope that next year, they start climbing the ladder again and show people that they are a real F1 team and worth supporting.

        Maybe she has just put clothes back on the turd to dress it up again? Time will tell, but I will give her a chance to prove herself before I condemn her like the rest of you.

    3. Well done Nasr. No mistakes made and 2 points. Now get out of Sauber, enough with this team and Monisha

    4. Not that it was a bad performance at all, but it was rather lucky. If there has been just 2 retirements from the top 10 last race, Ericsson would have had the same result. Retirements and his pit stop when he had it helped a huge amount here. Anyway, glad that Sauber have points now. But I still think that the best race by far that any Sauber driver has done this year is what Ericsson did last race. If only that had got points too.

      1. I am talking about the previous race when i first mention Ericsson. He obviously made a costly mistake here.

        1. In reality the best thing Ericsson could hade done in this race was to crash when he did. Since he swapped to inters he actually helped Nasr to his points by this crash. Usually a crash like this cost a lot of money, this one they gained a lot. (If the result stands over Abu Dhabi)

      2. For the first time this season Sauber managed to choose a correct strategy even if it was only for one of the drivers. Their new strategy chief is paying of or was it just pure luck? (yes it was)

      3. Besides Raikonen and Grojean, that didn’t even started the race, if I’m correct, all other retirements was of drivers from behind him. He had the worst car on the grid today and still finished ahead of both Manor’s Drivers that are highly rated than him.

        It’s in difficult conditions that great drivers show what they can do. Like we saw today with Verstapen, Sainz, Hamilton, Perez, Hulkenberg and Nasr.

    5. Great drive from Nasr but this makes me sad as I have a soft spot for Manor. I was hoping that Sauber wouldn’t score points this year, cruel as it sounds.

    6. This was a truly great driver from Nasr, he was simply sensational today. He passed about four cars after the safety car start and passed even more cars and by staying out he moved up to sixth. He then defended easily from Alonso and for a while Hulkenberg and Vettel. At the end his pace decreased but he will still able to score points. Go Sauber! But sad for Manor who will not be in 2017 apparently according to AMUS because of this result

    7. Nasr couldn’t have made a stronget case for his seat in Formula 1 next year. Fought at the front, raced in the top 6 for most of the race, fell back a little at the end, just like Sainz, another outstanding performance of this race, but still scored valuable points, and a crucial 9th that will keep Sauber ahead even if Manor scores another highly unlikely 10th place at Abu Dhabi.

      He was outperformed by Ericsson this season, which means he’s not that great, but since last year he was the one to score big points and save the team when there was an opportunity. After a few events it can’t be only down to luck.

    8. So happy for Sauber. So sad for Manor. Why can’t the 11th team get some money?

    9. This might mean the end of Manor, but it may also mean the return of Sauber. This extra money will help develop the 2017 car during the campaign. Ironically, it may also help Sauber to dump Nasr. If Banco do Brasil won’t back Nasr, then I think we will see Ericsson-Gutierrez driving the Sauber next season.

    10. Has there been any indication of the Sauber driver pairing for 2017? I presume this improves his odds of being re-signed for 2017, but where does he stand vis-à-vis Ericsson in terms of bringing sponsorship?

      1. Gutierrez have a lot of money also. From what I heard Banco do Brasil will reduce his sponsorship from 15m to 10m. But I think Nasr is far better than Gutierrez, and they maybe have the same thinking as me. Besides that, there’s no way Bernie will let F1 without any Brasilian driver. Bernie wanted Nasr on Force India, but Mercedes money got in the way.

        But I think that there’s a great chance for him to go to Manor and maybe it will be a better team next year. Even without this extra money they have a better team personnel and will have for sure a better engine.

        1. Thank you, Miane 👍

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