By finishing sixth in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Kamui Kobayashi scored eight championship points – the best result for Sauber so far this season. His team mate, Pedro de la Rosa, had to give up at half distance because of damage to the rear of the car caused by an accident with Adrian Sutil. De la Rosa was speeding down the Hangar Straight when part of his rear wing shattered, causing the safety car.
Kobayashi was very happy with his race after finishing 6th from qualifying 12th, with the Japanese driver saying he found the race easy!
“I’m really happy, but actually I don’t have much to tell,” Kobayashi said. “I had a very good start from 12th, the team did a great pit stop and the race pace today was as good as I thought it would be. I was pretty confident before the race because I can really feel how the car is getting better and better now. I had no chance to overtake anybody this time, but I still enjoyed the race. I didn’t find it especially hard, I didn’t even sweat,” he concluded.
In contrast to his teammate, Pedro de la Rosa was very disappointed with his race after being hit by Adrian Sutil forced his retirement.
“Naturally I’m very disappointed,” said the veteran Spaniard. “The car was quite good. I had some understeer, but nothing major. Right after the start I was racing alongside Rubens Barrichello and he pushed me wide in turn one. That was where I lost two places and dropped back to 11th. But I was still racing for points when Adrian Sutil hit me from behind at half distance of the race because not everybody in front of me had stopped by then. Unfortunately the damage proved to be too bad to continue,” he lamented.
Team boss Peter Sauber said it was a ‘strong and successful’ race for Kamui Kobayashi, but the Swiss says that Kobayashi could have gone even faster!
“This was another strong and successful race for Kamui. But the difference to the recent Grand Prix in Valencia is this time he had to withstand a lot of pressure over the entire race distance. There was never a real gap ahead or behind him. He managed this tight situation very well and I think he could have gone even faster.
“My compliments not only to him and his driving, but also to the team which is improving the car step by step. Pedro had a very unlucky race. Right after the start he was pushed off by somebody, but he still had a good chance for points before the incident with Adrian Sutil on lap 26.”
I think it’s a shame that so much attention of late has been diverted to the Webber/Vettel crap. I’m guilty of it too, and I think it takes away from drivers like Kobayashi, who are absolutely deserving of some time in the spotlight.
Jumping 6 places to finish well into the points is huge, and you might suggest that he just got lucky with his pit-stop in Valencia, but for a long, long part of that race, he ran 3rd and proved he had the pace to run with the championship leaders in what is, delicately put, a sub-standard car.
I have no idea of what Kobayashi’s contract arrangements are, but with 2011 wish lists starting to arise, I’m curious as to why there seems to be not much talk of this young lad.
Fair enough he’s only had a short time to impress, but perhaps there’s something there. No other driver from a team placed that low has run in the mix of McLarens or Red Bulls this season, so I’m gonna take a gamble and say he’s a worthy investment!