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From GMM
Esteban Gutierrez is finally beginning to make a mark, after shedding his "conservative" approach to formula one.
When it became clear Sauber intends to field the teenager Sergey Sirotkin in 2014, many insiders said pairing him with the struggling Mexican Gutierrez made no sense.
Indeed, the 22-year-old has struggled throughout his rookie F1 season, but suddenly in Singapore he broke into the 'Q3' qualifying segment for the first time.
And this weekend in Korea, he qualified a new career-best of eighth and finished just short of his first point, in 11th, as it becomes clear Pirelli's steel-belted tyres suit the formerly-languishing 2013 Sauber.
But Gutierrez says he has undergone a radical change too.
"I said it in Singapore," he told Spain's Marca newspaper. "Once you know you can do it, especially when you were coming from a critical moment, it is a drastic change.
So what has changed?
"My whole approach to the entire weekend," Gutierrez explained. "I was very conservative, obviously because I was a rookie and I wanted to build from something reasonable.
"There came a point where maybe I had turned to being automatically conservative," he added.
"(Then) you get to those moments with pressure or difficulty, and you do not see a solution, and then you manage to change it, it becomes very powerful," said Gutierrez.
"It makes you much stronger," he insisted.
Esteban Gutierrez is finally beginning to make a mark, after shedding his "conservative" approach to formula one.
When it became clear Sauber intends to field the teenager Sergey Sirotkin in 2014, many insiders said pairing him with the struggling Mexican Gutierrez made no sense.
Indeed, the 22-year-old has struggled throughout his rookie F1 season, but suddenly in Singapore he broke into the 'Q3' qualifying segment for the first time.
And this weekend in Korea, he qualified a new career-best of eighth and finished just short of his first point, in 11th, as it becomes clear Pirelli's steel-belted tyres suit the formerly-languishing 2013 Sauber.
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| Gutierrez has found a lot of speed (Photo: WRi2) |
But Gutierrez says he has undergone a radical change too.
"I said it in Singapore," he told Spain's Marca newspaper. "Once you know you can do it, especially when you were coming from a critical moment, it is a drastic change.
So what has changed?
"My whole approach to the entire weekend," Gutierrez explained. "I was very conservative, obviously because I was a rookie and I wanted to build from something reasonable.
"There came a point where maybe I had turned to being automatically conservative," he added.
"(Then) you get to those moments with pressure or difficulty, and you do not see a solution, and then you manage to change it, it becomes very powerful," said Gutierrez.
"It makes you much stronger," he insisted.