Kobayashi chases Kubica home

Sauber race review

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Kamui Kobayashi gambled on the harder tyres again and used them to claim a point.

Meanwhile team mate Nick Heidfeld had no complaints about his drive-through penalty.

Nick Heidfeld Kamui Kobayashi
Qualifying position 15 12
Qualifying time comparison (Q2) 1’19.899 (+0.514) 1’19.385
Race position 17 10
Laps 70/71 70/71
Pit stops 3 1

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Nick Heidfeld

Very happy after setting the eighth-fastest time in second practice but Saturday was a different story:

I must admit I am a bit annoyed. Dry conditions would have suited our car better, but that’s not under our control. What we could have done better was the timing in Q2. My tyre change was two laps too early, which meant I wasn’t on the track when the conditions were at their best with a set of tyres in good shape.
Nick Heidfeld

He struggled to make progress through traffic in the race and his hopes of a good finished were finally dashed by a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags:

The penalty was absolutely justified. I just didn’t know that Nico [Rosberg] was lapping me. I had blue flags already when there were a couple of cars between us and when he was behind me I could not tell if they were for him.

I had a lack of information, perhaps because the team hadn’t the information either. I apologised to Nico straight after the race.
Nick Heidfeld

Kamui Kobayashi

Started 12th but felt he could have made it into the top ten shot-out:

I was very close to making it into Q3, but I could feel on my last lap the tyres were gone. The timing for the tyre change on my car was alright for me. Perhaps one lap later would have been ideal in terms of track conditions, but on the other hand it is good to go for safety in case of a yellow flag or anything else like this.

In Q1, when it was wetter, I found the conditions were very good for the car and the tyres. I remained on the same set and in the end I was fifth, but obviously the result of Q2 is what counts.
Kamui Kobayashi

Made his characteristic gamble of starting on the prime tyres (medium compound) tyres which didn’t seem to pay off at first as he slipped behind the Toro Rosso drivers to 15th.

He switched to super-softs on lap 48 and the safety car period gave him an opportunity to take places back. He started by picking off Sebastien Buemi at the restart.

On lap 64 he took Jaime Alguersuari to move into tenth place for the final point.

He then reeled in Robert Kubica by up to a second a lap but ran out of time to pass him, crossing the line just half a second behind the Renault.

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

2010 Brazilian Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
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    9 comments on “Kobayashi chases Kubica home”

    1. Kamui Kobayashi gambled on the harder tyres again and used the to claim a point.

      “that”

      1. You are nitpicking about a typo, and are yourself incorrect.

        Impressive work

    2. Kobayashi is not only fast but clever. He also has now more maturity and his moves on both Toro Rosso(s) were both sharp and safe. He needs to stay another year at Sauber and then move to a top team. He is the first japanese driver to have all it takes to make a champion.

      1. Agreed. He may not have taken a pole, but he’s been Rookie of the Year for me.

        He didn’t put up much of a fight to the Mclarens early on (which he probably would have done last year), but that’s probably a sign of him maturing. He knew that he’d just slow himself down so he chose to concentrate on his own race and eventually reaped the rewards.

        1. Yep. Hulk’s pole was fantastic and really impressive, but Kobayashi’s without a doubt still the rookie of the year, and the points reflect that. I wonder what he’d be capable of in a top team. He definitely seems to have the skills when it comes to forcing an overtake, and he’s willing to stray from the pack when it comes to strategy, which has paid off for him now several times.

    3. Kobayashi is starting to become a consistent point scorer. And as wild as he may be, he doesn’t seem to be making many mistakes, which is not the case for many japanese drivers. A lot of those retirements early in the season were not entirely his fault.

    4. Charles Carroll
      8th November 2010, 15:31

      Kobayashi for Rookie of the Year. You put him in an RB6, and he is leading the title chase this year.

    5. Why didn’t FOM show Kobayashi’s pass on Alguersuari? They are really starting to p*** me off. I remember in Hungary, we didn’t get to see Kobayashi’s pass on Schumacher.

    6. From his first race Kobayashi impressed me, and I agree that he has potential to do great things in a top team. However it is always different when a driver then gets a top car, they can’t always deliver for a number of reasons. But Kobayashi seems – as several has already noted – to be both aggressive when he needs to and tactically highly intelligent/skilled. I would very much like to see if he can deliver a pole lap in one of the fastest cars on the grid.

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