Sauber scored points with both cars for the first time this year.
The team had some aerodynamic changes on the C30 including revised front wings.
| Kamui Kobayashi | Sergio Perez | |
| Qualifying position | 14 | 12 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q2) | 1’23.702 (+0.335) | 1’23.367 |
| Race position | 10 | 9 |
| Laps | 65/66 | 65/66 |
| Pit stops | 3 | 3 |
Sauber drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | |
| Kamui Kobayashi | 117.59 | 115.192 | 92.575 | 92.592 | 92.49 | 92.564 | 92.812 | 92.433 | 92.532 | 92.775 | 93.583 | 93.735 | 94.279 | 92.879 | 93.193 | 92.285 | 92.338 | 92.669 | 93.402 | 92.705 | 93.326 | 92.576 | 92.519 | 92.467 | 97.319 | 107.742 | 89.741 | 89.86 | 88.911 | 90.333 | 91.041 | 89.453 | 90.423 | 89.428 | 89.707 | 89.553 | 90.569 | 89.555 | 90.027 | 89.829 | 90.207 | 90.584 | 92.212 | 94.533 | 107.963 | 87.636 | 88.314 | 88.435 | 87.713 | 87.947 | 89.386 | 87.615 | 88.172 | 89.264 | 89.104 | 91.855 | 91.044 | 88.672 | 88.499 | 88.95 | 90.118 |
| Sergio Perez | 101.433 | 93.462 | 92.783 | 92.668 | 92.343 | 92.046 | 96.176 | 113.566 | 92.481 | 91.926 | 93.918 | 94.836 | 93.989 | 92.061 | 92.392 | 92.53 | 92.506 | 92.398 | 93.305 | 93.427 | 92.041 | 91.868 | 92.001 | 92.351 | 92.464 | 92.484 | 92.684 | 93.368 | 97.626 | 106.339 | 88.462 | 88.313 | 88.406 | 88.83 | 88.765 | 91.954 | 90.03 | 90.352 | 91.246 | 90.979 | 90.093 | 90.126 | 89.882 | 90.745 | 90.047 | 90.661 | 94.55 | 106.747 | 87.84 | 87.889 | 88.137 | 88.178 | 89.417 | 90.571 | 87.247 | 88.259 | 88.385 | 89.522 | 89.353 | 90.354 | 93.523 |
Kamui Kobayashi
Was frustrated after being held up in qualifying: “On my last lap, when I was on new soft tyres, a Force India was in trouble in front of me, he made a mistake in turn ten and that was it for me. It is a shame because our new aero package is working well.”
He picked up a puncture in the first half of the opening lap. It’s not clear exactly what happened, but Kobayashi said: “I was pushed into the gravel and then another car touched me, which resulted in a left rear puncture.
“I had to pit and was relegated to last, which of course cost us a very good set of the soft tyres.”
He did a 24-lap stint on the hard tyres before switching back to softs. After that he made up a lot of places, passing Vitaly Petrov for 11th with ten laps to go, when became tenth after Felipe Massa retired.
Kamui Kobayashi 2011 form guide
Sergio Perez
Perez scored his first points (that he was allowed to keep) after a trouble-free race.
The team took the decision to use the hard tyres for his second stint, leaving him free to attack on soft tyres over the final two stints.
His lap times dropped off towards the end of his final run on soft tyres which, at 19 laps, was much longer than many other drivers managed. But he was unable to keep Nick Heidfeld from taking eighth.
Perez said: “My first points in Formula One are obviously something special for me, and it is good for the team that Kamui also scored.
“The team had a very good race strategy and did a perfect job at the pit stops. I feel that for me today is a turning point in this season.”
2011 Spanish Grand Prix
Image ?é?® Sauber F1 Team
David-A (@david-a)
23rd May 2011, 14:22
Finally some points after having them taken away in Australia! Excellente Perez!
Fixy (@)
23rd May 2011, 15:11
I still see something wrong with the fact it’s not his second points-scoring result, but I won’t bring that discussion back.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
23rd May 2011, 20:26
Silly really. But rules are rules and i’m glad they’re at least enforced.
BasCB (@bascb)
23rd May 2011, 15:09
Sauber is ticking solidly like a Swiss clock. With 2 drivers showing a lot of promise, a factory that really has it all and a good source of money they are in the position where Williams wants to be for years now, ready to start a climb towards the top of the field
S.J.M (@sjm)
23rd May 2011, 15:30
yeah, i remember being a tad worried that they had a young inexperience driver line up when going into testing. But they certainly are pulling in the points with some excellent races, especially from Kobayashi.
Joey-Poey (@joey-poey)
23rd May 2011, 15:10
I’ve been enjoying his Speedy Gonzalez he keeps in the garage. Makes me chuckle. Arriba, indeed!
Piero
23rd May 2011, 15:16
Thrilled for both drivers, especially Perez who finally Had an uneventful race after bad luck in Malasya, dumb mistakes in China, and Maldonado chopping his front wing in Turkey.
Kobayashi was fantastic once again, coming back in full charge to take 10th
The car is great on race pace, but is still lacking in te qualy. They need to improve this to avoid Williams, Force India and Toro Rosso at the beginning of races.
Megawatt Herring
23rd May 2011, 15:17
Never realised that Kob got a puncture, very impressed he managed to finish 10th having lost a set of soft towers in the first lap. It also means that he did effectively 2 stops. Why does this sort of achievement only seem to get picked up by Kieth?
slr
23rd May 2011, 16:26
I’m really happy to see Perez to score his first points. It’s also great to see that Kobayashi can’t stop scoring points.
ajokay
23rd May 2011, 16:43
I love Sauber, aside from the prancing horses in the back, but still.
I do hope they finish a good solid 6th this year. It’s going to be hard for them to break into the top 5 though, can’t really see it happening, what with all above them having visited the podium at least once this year already.
A respectable 6th, with some clear air in front and behind would be a good finish to build on.
Steph (@)
23rd May 2011, 18:45
That’s their best bit!! :P
US_Peter (@us_peter)
24th May 2011, 4:10
I’m sure they wouldn’t have agreed with you at the start of 2010. ;-) This year things seem to be going a bit better with the engines though.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
24th May 2011, 4:08
I hope so too!
Faraz
23rd May 2011, 20:14
Everyone is talking about Di Resta. Yet no one seems to notice the great drives Kobayashi is putting in He picked up a puncture went to the back of the pack, recovered,scored a point only one place behind his team mate.
Ady
24th May 2011, 8:44
The UK commentators like to big up the British drivers. They also have their own interests to promote; David is employed by Red Bull and Martin is the manager for a number of F1 drivers.
Martin does a better job of keeping a fair balance IMHO.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
23rd May 2011, 20:28
Well done to the Sauber boys! A good weekend for them and Kobayashi did really well. Would expect no less from him though. Great tyre choice in the pit-stop.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
24th May 2011, 2:57
Good work by the drivers & the team,Kobayashi made a excellent drive after loosing so much ground in the opening lap.
Babis1980
24th May 2011, 9:04
Here is my opinion. Ferrari should get rid of Massa and put Kamui in his place…..obviously Webber will finish his carrier at the end of the season. Felipe will go to Red Bull, and he will win the 2012 championship. Perez will lead Sauber next year with Romain Grosjean by his side.
Seriously now…..it will be a mystery if the top teams won’t try to snatch Kamui from Sauber. The guy is brilliant. Regularly in points (in the last 18 races he was out of top ten 6 times – wone of these was the 8 place in Australia 2011, and three retirements). He is a good overtaker, and he brings the car home.
skodarap (@skodarap)
24th May 2011, 10:18
Sauber “case” is very interesting.
As we’ve seen last year, Kobayashi was quite fast compared to de la Rosa (and later to Hiedfeld, though not as much) but this year both of them seem very close to each other.
So it’s really hard to tell whether the car is that good (I think the car itself is about as fast as Force India), their driver line-up is that fast or if they are just making great use of “odd” strategy – not once did they ran on completely different tyre strategy from everybody else.
Kudos to them, very entertaining team!
rui
24th May 2011, 18:04
kob >> hei :) Kobayashi is one of the best drivers of the season so far. Kamui is better driver than perez, but…
fAct: Race fastest laps -> this perez kid has faster laps than kamui on EVERY RACE except malasia (perez ran just 1/3 of the race).
The kid has the speed, just he’s a kid (inexperienced), i would love to see him next season again in sauber.
Sauber the most interesting driver line-up so far!!