Both Sauber drivers lost places at the start of the race but made it to the end to score the team’s first consecutive double points finish of 2010.
The two drivers were also able to change to intermediate tyres within two laps of the safety car coming in at the start of the race – giving further weight to arguments that the rain delay went on far too long.
| Nick Heidfeld | Kamui Kobayashi | |
| Qualifying position | 13 | 12 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q2) | 1’37.715 (+0.072) | 1’37.643 |
| Race position | 9 | 8 |
| Laps | 55/55 | 55/55 |
| Pit stops | 1 | 1 |
Open lap times interactive chart in new window
Nick Heidfeld
Got ahead of Kobayashi at the start but was passed by his team mate after the safety car came in for the second time.
Adrian Sutil passed him on lap 37 but Heidfeld claimed the position back on the following lap when the Force India driver went off. Ended the race ninth behind Kobayashi:
We changed onto intermediates quite early. In hindsight it was actually too early as it wasn’t easy to stay on the track, although we managed it, and then the conditions improved.
After a lot of laps, and on a drying track, at the end the tyres were gone, but I think others had the same problem. I could not really defend my position against Adrian (Sutil) because, with the mirrors being so dirty, I just could not see him.
I knew from the radio he was there, but I only saw him when he was beside me. For me racing in the darkness was on the edge, but I still felt I could see okay.
Nick Heidfeld
Compare Nick Heidfeld’s form against his team mate in 2010
Kamui Kobayashi
Both Sauber drivers did only one run in Q2 and Kobayashi did the better job, qualifying 12th.
Like Heidfeld, he lost places to Vitaly Petrov and Sebastien Buemi early on, but both those drivers were doomed not to finish.
Having pitted early he was promoted to tenth when several drivers ahead of him changed tyres. Vitantonio Liuzzi took the place off him at turn three on lap 36, Kobayashi narrowly avoiding front wing damage, and carrying on to finish eighth.
Compare Kamui Kobayashi’s form against his team mate in 2010
2010 Korean Grand Prix
Casanova (@casanova)
25th October 2010, 11:33
Sly typo in the penultimate paragraph – driers.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
25th October 2010, 11:54
Fixed, ta.
Meander
25th October 2010, 11:45
There’s a problem with the lap-time graph Keith. Seems both drivers have the same data.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
25th October 2010, 11:47
No it just looks that way because the stoppage caused a huge spike on lap four.
If you hover over you can read the drivers’ lap times at the bottom and see they’re different.
Remember you can also click and drag on the charts to zoom in on sections away from the lap four spike which makes the difference in their times easier to see.
Oliver
25th October 2010, 13:21
Both drivers were running together for much of the race and it seems they had to do everything to hold on to their respective positions as they were one of the earliest to pit for inters.
hawkfist
25th October 2010, 14:43
Heidfeld continuing to show that despite all his backers, he’s a very average driver
Steph
25th October 2010, 15:17
I was actually really happy with Nick. He had longer out than Massa and no testing and yet he’s back and in his second qualifying he was less than a tenth off his team mate and had a fairly good race too.
Tango
25th October 2010, 17:57
I think on the contrary he is doing pretty well. Directly on target and giving his now established team mate quite a run for his money. I believe he is actually bad news for Kobayashi : the latter has to beat him with a fair gap to show he is really good, given he knows the car so much more.
Gridlock
25th October 2010, 18:22
The FIA have a lot to answer for, that finish was dangerously dark.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
25th October 2010, 21:36
Kobayashi looks like he’s got rookie of the year pretty well sewed up in a neat little package at this point. It would be a tall order indeed for Alguersuari, Hülkenberg, or even Petrov to catch up to him in points at this late hour.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
26th October 2010, 2:38
Those lap times on the chart are scarily similar! But Kobayashi was very luck to finish the race today after that crazy move from Sutil. It didn’t look so bad from the overhead shot, but the front angle replay showed it was a big impact, and I was surprised not to see Kobayashi shed a wheel too.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
26th October 2010, 8:00
Both of them are performing consistently.
YeaMon
26th October 2010, 19:12
Man that sauber is a tank.