Kamui Kobayashi scored his first point since the German Grand Prix.
| Kamui Kobayashi | Sergio Perez | |
| Qualifying position | 16 | 11 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q2) | 1’41.240 (+0.366) | 1’40.874 |
| Race position | 10 | 11 |
| Laps | 54/55 | 54/55 |
| 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 | |
| Kamui Kobayashi | 120.621 | 111.144 | 111.742 | 112.543 | 114.261 | 126.007 | 107.913 | 108.989 | 109.747 | 111.554 | 108.03 | 108.183 | 108.254 | 108.536 | 107.743 | 107.48 | 107.633 | 107.88 | 107.161 | 107.507 | 107.647 | 107.191 | 107.395 | 107.192 | 106.792 | 107.185 | 107.158 | 107.018 | 107.26 | 107.337 | 107.853 | 107.544 | 109.688 | 128.629 | 105.617 | 105.15 | 105.175 | 105.654 | 104.646 | 104.78 | 104.607 | 104.546 | 104.68 | 104.969 | 104.51 | 103.997 | 103.521 | 103.944 | 103.658 | 103.806 | 104.688 | 104.253 | 104.187 | 108.212 | |
| Sergio Perez | 118.422 | 112.14 | 132.619 | 110.033 | 109.215 | 109.279 | 109.599 | 110.617 | 110.804 | 110.071 | 108.822 | 109.932 | 109.978 | 109.531 | 108.65 | 108.595 | 108.206 | 107.933 | 108.22 | 108.581 | 108.182 | 107.727 | 108.263 | 108.062 | 107.888 | 107.483 | 109.074 | 125.089 | 106.769 | 105.15 | 105.294 | 105.757 | 105.267 | 105.324 | 105.301 | 104.924 | 105.462 | 105.296 | 105.142 | 104.737 | 104.566 | 104.842 | 105.255 | 105.313 | 104.973 | 105.795 | 107.395 | 106.208 | 105.723 | 107.002 | 105.372 | 105.283 | 106.416 | 105.157 |
Kamui Kobayashi
| Start tyre | Medium |
| Pit stop 1 | Soft 19.833s |
| Pit stop 2 | Soft 23.108s |
Kobayashi was four-tenths of a second off his team mate in qualifying which made a difference of five places – he started 16th.
Starting on the medium tyres, he slipped back initially and was demoted to 14th by Heikki Kovalainen on lap five. He pitted for softs soon after.
That began a long climb from the back of the field, which included passing his own team mate on lap 12, unseen by the cameras, while his team mate was on the harder tyres.
This proved a decisive pass as it was Kobayashi who ultimately came out on top in their battle for the final points place. “I have had a pretty long period without scoring and for me it was important to put an end to this,” he said.
Kamui Kobayashi 2011 form guide
Sergio Perez
| Start tyre | Soft |
| Pit stop 1 | Medium 24.654s |
| Pit stop 2 | Soft 19.979s |
Perez was particularly pleased with his qualifying effort: “I’m very happy with 11th in qualifying. Everybody in the team did a good job.
“I did my fastest lap time in Q2 with a set of soft tyres I had used before in Q1.”
He made a good start, passing Paul di Resta, and was trying to pass the other Force India of Adrian Sutil at the hairpin when he was caught out by how quickly the pack slowed. He ran into the back of Sutil and broke his front wing.
Perez didn’t realise the extent of the damage first and at wasn’t until the end of the second lap that he came in for a replacement wing. That left him at the back of the pack with his team mate. Trying to minimise the damage to his race, the team put him on the medium compounds tyres.
He came in for his final pit stop on lap 27, switching back to softs. However his tyres went off towards the end of the stint – the loss of time aggravated by a KERS failure 12 laps from home – and he finished the race under pressure from Rubens Barrichello.
2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Image © Sauber F1 Team
plutoniumhunter (@plutoniumhunter)
14th November 2011, 12:47
This is starting to become Schumacher vs Rosberg-esque.
Raveendhana (@raveendhana)
14th November 2011, 12:50
with the current form and pace, i think toro rosso will overtake sauber in the championship.
Klaas (@klaas)
14th November 2011, 12:56
I’m not so sure, with only one race to go Sauber might get away with it.
Girts (@girts)
14th November 2011, 13:44
Toro Rosso expect Interlagos to suit their cars better than Abu Dhabi did. Provided that Buemi’s car stops braking down, I think Toro Rosso will overtake Sauber in the standings.
Girts (@girts)
14th November 2011, 13:46
braking down = breaking down :)
electrolite (@electrolite)
14th November 2011, 14:17
Really? Toro Rosso’s greatest asset is their front line speed, whereas the C30 has tended to fare better (at least pace-wise) at tracks like Silverstone, Spa, Istanbul…windier tracks with more high downforce cornering demands. We’ll have to see anyway.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
15th November 2011, 13:43
@electrolite @girts Yea, I would have thought their best chance to shine would have been Abu Dhabi more than Brazil. Who knows! Be interesting to see their set-up.
Raveendhana (@raveendhana)
14th November 2011, 12:58
@plutoniumhunter both drivers are equally good so i feel the competition is on the expected lines, even though perez started to score points pretty late in the season.
gwenouille (@gwenouille)
14th November 2011, 13:05
After the McLaren boys, maybe my favourite pair of drivers !
I liked the 4-way battle they both had together with the HRT, that was some kind of overcrowded multi-pass !
Magnificent Geoffrey (@magnificent-geoffrey)
14th November 2011, 13:19
Great race for my guys. Shame they couldn’t get more than a point out of it, but at least Toro Rosso had a bit of misfortune!
Very pleased to see Kamui back in the points – it’s been too long and he’s been unlucky in a lot of races since his last score. Also, he overtook TWO HRTs in ONE corner! Mark-out moment of the season so far for me.
electrolite (@electrolite)
14th November 2011, 14:00
I think trying to pass ONE Maldonado in TWO corners is more impressive for me…seeing as he won’t get out of the bloody way.
Agree with everything though
Fixy (@)
14th November 2011, 20:47
That battle was very nice, wasn’t it @magnificent-geoffrey! I was unhappy that for one of them to score the other had to end out of the points, but as Kamui has had poor results lately I’m glad to see him back in the top 10.
Mr draw
14th November 2011, 14:18
Even with a crippled strategy and the loss of his KERS, Perez managed to finish in 11th position. Who knows what might have happened if he had a trouble-free race.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
15th November 2011, 13:41
I still find it difficult to believe that Kobayashi has had such a huge points drought. Good to see him back up there.