Sauber took points away from a difficult weekend which saw Sergio Perez being substituted and a pair of crashes in practice.
| Kamui Kobayashi | Pedro de la Rosa | |
| Qualifying position | 13 | 17 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q2) | 1’15.285 (-0.302) | 1’15.587 |
| Race position | 7 | 12 |
| Laps | 70/70 | 70/70 |
| Pit stops | 2 | 2 |
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 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | |
| Kamui Kobayashi | 151.997 | 125.374 | 124.211 | 121.411 | 100.174 | 98.931 | 96.579 | 106.726 | 115.193 | 130.164 | 126.296 | 121.392 | 96.325 | 95.768 | 96.524 | 95.485 | 95.604 | 96.117 | 100.834 | 110.058 | 105.438 | 121.414 | 131.371 | 136.431 | 140.297 | 127.263 | 124.083 | 122.157 | 122.9 | 121.601 | 122.486 | 121.619 | 122.366 | 93.539 | 107.678 | 106.371 | 116.831 | 124.989 | 124.753 | 91.401 | 91.237 | 91.185 | 90.195 | 89.864 | 89.169 | 88.704 | 87.893 | 87.868 | 88.753 | 91.985 | 87.489 | 105.9 | 94.71 | 85.375 | 85.111 | 105.466 | 103.456 | 109.272 | 120.636 | 88.094 | 82.837 | 82.864 | 82.477 | 81.533 | 81.285 | 81.204 | 80.611 | 81.175 | 80.213 | |
| Pedro de la Rosa | 156.364 | 125.391 | 124.972 | 120.523 | 100.518 | 102.236 | 102.031 | 106.332 | 111.872 | 131.185 | 126.215 | 119.342 | 97.225 | 97.843 | 99.006 | 98.945 | 97.028 | 96.165 | 107.079 | 115.216 | 109.66 | 105.258 | 121.218 | 137.631 | 141.717 | 127.723 | 122.086 | 122.775 | 121.99 | 121.18 | 122.275 | 121.653 | 121.771 | 116.914 | 97.159 | 105.704 | 111.967 | 125.393 | 117.742 | 95.92 | 93.293 | 92.814 | 94.419 | 93.331 | 90.693 | 90.503 | 90.47 | 89.484 | 90.257 | 89.528 | 103.809 | 97.623 | 87.715 | 89.012 | 92.47 | 103.709 | 95.414 | 91.266 | 116.404 | 95.59 | 87.325 | 88.004 | 82.661 | 82.346 | 82.219 | 81.722 | 81.495 | 82.18 | 80.369 |
Kamui Kobayashi
Kobayashi crashed at turn four in second practice and the team had to build up the spare chassis for him to use on Saturday.
He put the car 13th on the grid and avoided an early pit stop for intermediate tyres to take second place before the race was suspended.
Kobayashi was easily beaten away by Sebastian Vettel on both restarts, but defended his position from Felipe Massa for many laps.
Eventually on lap 51 he made a mistake at turn eight and Massa and Michael Schumacher made it past.
Jenson Button and Vitaly Petrov passed him next.
Then on the last lap of the race Massa, recovering from a front wing change, used DRS to beat Kobayashi to the line by less than five-hundredths of a second to grab sixth place.
Kamui Kobayashi 2011 form guide
Pedro de la Rosa
Took over from Perez in second practice. Crashed at the end of final practice but was able to participate in qualifying and started 17th.
Like his team mate, de la Rosa made up a lot of ground when the track was very wet, re-starting the race in ninth.
But he hit Jenson Button’s car during one of the safety car periods and had to pit for a new front wing, leaving him 17th.
His progress was further delayed when the car became stuck in first gear. He made his way up to 12th by the finish.
Pedro de la Rosa 2011 form guide
Sergio Perez
Drove in first practice but decided he was still not at optimum fitness following his Monaco crash, and sat out the rest of the weekend.
2011 Canadian Grand Prix
Image © Sauber F1 Team
BasCB (@bascb)
13th June 2011, 17:41
Kudos for Perez owning up to not feeling well, seeing how the race panned out, it was a very wise desicion. Imagine driving in that and not feeling 100% already!
And a hell of a job for Pedro to step in and do as well as he did. Not the result he would have wanted, but both Sauber and McLaren will be satisfied with his effort here.
Kamui, shame he could not hold on to a position closer to the top spots, but another very mature and good drive to get solid points when the car was not the best tool on the grid for the race.
Fixy (@)
13th June 2011, 17:57
Results are not on Sauber’s side, but both drivers were good in the race. The podium for Kamui can’t be far away.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
13th June 2011, 23:07
I cannot wait to see him on the podium with that big grin he has. I hope he does a Petrov and hugs that trophy in his sleep.
dyslexicbunny
13th June 2011, 18:11
Yea. I really think both drivers were commendable yesterday. Pedro was fantastic in a car that he really wasn’t fit for. Kamui did all he could and you gotta respect that.
I’m still surprised Gutierrez wasn’t in Montreal. Don’t all teams have their reserve driver on hand during races weekends in the event something unfortunate might happen?
Ral
13th June 2011, 17:44
Kobayashi had a spin coming out of turn 2 which is how Petrov passed him. He really did have trouble getting his slicks up to temperature. Presumably Petrov and Kobayashi had a bit of a coming together at that point which is why they were under investigation after the race. I guess nothing came of that one way or the other?
Anyway, as much as I would have liked him to, I don’t think he ever looked likely to finish second. But 7th is a bit lower than he could have achieved. A shame they waited a couple of laps too long to put him on slicks.
Still, good points. Finished in points scoring position every single race so far this year. And if the BBC pundits had it correct that Sauber don’t hot-blow their diffuser, then surely that means essentially a free “upgrade” to their speed, comparatively speaking. I hope Sauber and Kobayashi can keep up the good work :)
Mouse_Nightshirt (@mouse_nightshirt)
13th June 2011, 20:02
Am I the only one who actually saw it happen? You could see him losing the rear end into corner 2 at the top of the screen whilst the camera was following the leaders – no-one seemed to notice it. The next lap, you could see tyre tracks over the grass at turn three.
PortuGoose
13th June 2011, 20:29
It almost looked as if the lapped Virgin car that Kobayashi passed on the restart pipped him into a spin, but I couldn’t see what really happened because of the camera angle.
TFLB
13th June 2011, 22:15
Yes I noticed it. But the TV director was terrible. We didn’t get a replay, and we didn’t even see what happened to Sutil, di Resta and Rosberg.
TFLB
13th June 2011, 22:15
And of course Maldonado.
Mike (@mike)
14th June 2011, 3:40
I think we did see what happened to Di Resta and Rosberg…
In a chaotic race like that I think the director went very well, don’t remember any bits where I thought… “c’mon show the other guy!”
TFLB
14th June 2011, 6:40
Di Resta crashed and retired, we didn’t see it. Rosberg lost his front wing on the last lap, we didn’t see it.
BasCB (@bascb)
14th June 2011, 7:14
It was definitely a lot better directing than the other races so far this year. Missed less important pieces and the replays mostly made sense as well.
ajokay (@)
15th June 2011, 16:37
I saw it, it was just going out of shot when It happened… then no replay, nothing. Just slo-mo shots of driver’s WAGs in the garages.
Really gets my back up. If I was director I’d show nothing from the pitlane/garages other than the occasional pitstop, and even then not very often.
Mach1
13th June 2011, 17:53
That dash for the line was fun (felt bad for Kobay though), been a while since i saw a near “photo finish”.
In fact any statmasters here who know when the last side by side dash for the line occurred?
NW
13th June 2011, 18:26
Maybe Kamui is the Japanese guy, but Felipe’s dash to the line was kamikaze style, went wide by a mile afterwards.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
13th June 2011, 18:57
It was a shame to see how the Sauwer was not strong enough to keep the second place. But it was awesome to see Massa taking sixth by a metre or less.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
13th June 2011, 18:57
Sauber
Bleu
13th June 2011, 19:58
There was one in Turkey, but it wasn’t for points. Happened just behind race winner Vettel with two lapped cars.
Oliver
14th June 2011, 7:05
In all those battles Kobayashi couldn’t use his DRS.
slr
13th June 2011, 18:06
I really thought Kobayashi could get a podium, he was holding off Massa really well. Anyway, it’s nice to see him still scoring points yet again.
gwenouille (@gwenouille)
13th June 2011, 20:56
I think Kobayshi couldn’t do better that P5. P7 is a bit disappointing though. Just like MSC, you feel like his car is a bit “short” for top places.
Is he the only driver to have scored points in every race so far ? (Well, there is Melbourne you’ll say…)
Ral
13th June 2011, 21:10
I’m sure there’s this German guy. Can’t think of his name now.. ;)
A bit more seriously, you are right. There’s Vettel, obviously and Button I think. That’s it as far as I can remember. Kobayashi is the only other driver to finish in a points scoring position in every race so far, one of which he was obviously disqualified from.
xxiinophobia (@xxiinophobia)
13th June 2011, 23:36
Vettel, Button, and Webber are the only drivers to score points in every race this season. The same is true of Kobayashi if you exclude his Australia disqualification (which of course was no fault of his own).
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
13th June 2011, 23:06
Very sensible approach from Sergio, will be great to see the fast Sauber hurtling around Valencia with him in it.
Kobayashi…KOBAYASHI! Brilliant. Loved him. This guy just keeps on getting better. He defended brilliantly from Massa just out of turn 1 into turn 2. We got a great view of that too.
I’m glad the team got a respectable finish out of De la Rosa too.
Eggry (@eggry)
13th June 2011, 23:46
in wet Kobayashi was quite strong. but when dry out…
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
14th June 2011, 3:14
I expected Kamui to be on the podium but a good race from him & good strategy as well.
montreal95
14th June 2011, 5:50
Kobayashi is fantastic! the sight of him powersliding just millimetrs from the wall of champions, leaving two great black lines is for me the close-up shot of the season. Great stuff!
Dutch_Alex
14th June 2011, 8:58
Indeed! I’d love to see him drive a 1500hp monster from the eighties. That would be spectacular to watch:D.
gwenouille (@gwenouille)
16th June 2011, 21:59
Indeed ! Very nice and spectacular pictures !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMlISnWHfp0
Oliver
14th June 2011, 7:02
Once the track began to dry up, the performance deficiency of the Sauber began to show. Kobayashi was always going to fight a losing battle to stay ahead of the faster cars.
While the track was wet, he could keep in touch with Vettel, so I think it was a great drive still.
Sergio Perez
14th June 2011, 9:05
He needs a chance in a stronger car!! Red Bull could get him since Webber probably quits this year. Ferrari is also an option, but since Perez has a deal with Ferrari (Ferrari young driver development program) I would probably not bet there. Renault seems locked for the moment- Kubica’s return and Petrov performing well- so I don’t see any other available and attractive seat for Kamui… Mercedes “other” seat seems destined to the impressive Di Resta. Mclaren is locked with Button and Hamilton. The other teams are inferior or at the same level of Sauber.
Actually, for the sake of an exciting future for F1, 3 cars per team seem like an interesting proposition…
Maurício Fonseca
14th June 2011, 17:48
Kobayashi should be the next guy to go to Ferrari or Red Bull.