Hulkenberg has signed a one-year contract to replace Perez who is joining McLaren from 2013. While Perez has impressed with three podium finishes this season, since the announcement of his move he has been involved in incidents with other drivers on three occasions in the last four races, and failed to score in any of them.
With Perez receiving a ten second stop/go penalty in Abu Dhabi, Kaltenborn admitted that she hopes to get more consistency from Hulkenberg when he joins the team.
“That’s a target we clearly have, and I don’t think this has anything to do with Sergio signing up somewhere else,” Kaltenborn told ESPN exclusively. “I think he’s making his experience – it is his second season – and that’s part of the package you have with this kind of driver. So I don’t think there is any link over there but it is clearly one of our targets that next year we have to have more consistency.”
While Perez failed to score for Sauber, Kamui Kobayashi brought home eight points in sixth place and Kaltenborn believes the team has a good chance of overhauling Mercedes in the constructors’ championship.
“The points which we’ve gained now are extremely valuable for that fight. It gives is further confidence looking at the next track, which is not so bad for our car as it appears to be from the characteristics, and Sao Paulo we’ve historically not been so bad at but you never really know what can happen over there.
“So it gives us that confidence that we can still manage to close it, but we know that it’s getting tougher and tougher because the occasions you have got left are just fewer.”
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