Sauber eyeing qualifying improvement, but without compromising race pace

The Hinwil-based squad secured its second podium of the season in last weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, where Sergio Perez finished in third position.

Perez, however, had started from 15th on the grid, highlighting Sauber's difficulty to emulate in qualifying what it can achieve in terms of race pace.

"It is our clear target to improve on the qualifying because if we can manage to get the car further in front on the grid, we can be far quicker and show even more the potential of this car, so this is really going to be our target to get further in front," Kaltenborn said.

However, she made it clear that the team must find a solution that does not compromise its strong race form.

"That is a difficult one," she said. "I think that has also a lot to do with how we ourselves prepare ourselves in qualifying, and there are enough areas that we have to improve as a team and if we can manage to get the qualifying session better together then we can really show these better kind of results."

Although Kaltenborn is convinced Sauber's car is very strong, she acknowledges that a lot of things must come together in order to be back on the podium.

"I am convinced that this car is competitive but to be on the podium a lot has to fit together," Kaltenborn added.

"There are certain factors we can influence and some we cannot, so the ones we can influence we have to work on, which are ourselves and our actions and our strategies and if we can get that together then the other ones will fit in as well so I do hope to see these moments more often."

And she admitted the feeling of having secured a podium in Montreal was very different to that in Malaysia, where the weather played a part in Perez's charge.

"It is a totally different feeling again. They are different circumstances and you had to look at different things here; it wasn't an exceptional crazy race, so you have to take every moment for its own.

"We are extremely happy and I just hope we don't have to wait for the next moment that long since Malaysia."