No race for Kobayashi (Sauber race review)

Kamui Kobayashi’s race was over before it began in Monza.

Pedro de la Rosa

Vitantonio Liuzzi’s technical problem probably saved de la Rosa from being eliminated in Q1 as he was unhappy with its balance:

It was a tough qualifying for me. Since this morning I haven’t felt comfortable in the car, and it just didn’t feel like it did yesterday. We put on more downforce, but we never managed to get a good compromise between rear end stability and top end speed.

However, I think the car will perform better in the race and I will see what I can do.
Pedro de la Rosa

His hopes of a better race didn’t materialise. He came home 14th in a race that was completely unremarkable, apart from him being in front of Fernando Alonso when his fellow Spaniard driver went off late in the race.

Rumours this weekend claimed de la Rosa will be replaced by Nick Heidfeld at the team before the next race.

Compare Pedro de la Rosa’s form against his team mate in 2010

Kamui Kobayashi

Peter Sauber said he was happy with 13th on the grid for Kobayashi, who re-signed for the team for 2011 ahead of the race weekend.

Unfortunately his race never really began as technical director James Key explained:

We felt we might be in a position to score points, but unfortunately there was a problem on Kamui’s car, which appears to be an ECU problem. We need to look into it further to understand it, but the problem caused damage to his gearbox on his out lap.

We changed the ECU, but the gearbox was too badly damaged. We decided to start him from the pit lane, but immediately he felt the gearbox was a problem, so he had to stop, which was a shame.
James Key

Compare Kamui Kobayashi’s form against his team mate in 2010

2010 Italian Grand Prix