Nasr to get new Sauber F1 chassis if handling woes continue

The Brazilian has been perplexed by his car's behaviour in the opening rounds in Australia and Bahrain.

He said the problems he encountered were not evident on the chassis Sauber used in pre-season testing - which team-mate Marcus Ericsson has used for races - but that his car was "completely different" when it arrived for Melbourne.

"[It's different] especially under braking into the apex of the corners, when you're trying to carry speed," Nasr explained.

"With the car we tested in Barcelona that was clearly a positive point for me - that you could feel the rear was very stable the whole way into the corner, just helping you to take the car to the exit.

"But since we've put the car [on track] in Australia we've been lacking this stability a lot."

Sauber will run identical set-ups on Nasr and Ericsson's cars in China to get a precise comparison of their behaviour, with the option of switching Nasr to the new third chassis for Russia if his tribulations continue.

"When you compare it to the other car you just see it's in all phases of the corner, so it's not one place you can say 'this is what's happening'," said Nasr.

"You come to the corner and you just feel a lack of support and it's difficult to place the car where you want, difficult to get the traction as you want.

"The best thing we could do is to get both cars aligned and this is the approach we're having here - just to see where it leads."