Petrov or Kobayashi?

There are several new drivers on the 2013 grid and that of course means that there are some other drivers who now doesn´t have a seat anymore.

One is Kamui Kobayashi, the former Sauber driver. The Swiss based team have said their goodbyes to both Sergio Perez and Kamui kobayashi and employed the services of Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez, the latter promoted from his role as test and reserve driver.

There are not many race seats left on the grid and HRT is no longer an option, as the hapless team folded shortly after the 2012 season finished. No buyer has shown interest in the scraps and that also means two seats less to fill.

Caterham is taking an awful long time to announce their driver line up. Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov are no longer part of the team, instead Charles Pic signed a multi-year deal with the team, but his team mate is yet to be announced. Petrov would be a good choice, but despite reports from germany that the management behind Petrov had secured new large sponsors, Petrov´s manager Oksana kosachenko is no longer that optimistic about a race seat for 2013.

“So far, we haven’t managed to find new sponsors,” said Kosachenko.

“At the moment there are a lot of unanswered questions. There are too many nuances that need to be sorted out. We’re at the waiting stage, which is linked to the team’s restructuring. We completely depend on them and can’t speed anything up.”

And Kamui Kobayashi is also a driver with no seat, despite having secured in the area of £6m, raised by sponsors and fans. Such is the support behind Japan´s most succesful F1 driver in history, but perhaps he has a future at Caterham?

Everything is speculations at this moment, but time is running out. The first pre-season test is on February 5 at Jerez, and it would suit the teams with vacant seats to finalize their driver line-ups and start getting to work. Kobayashi is perhaps not the obvious choice for Caterham, but I personally think that he could be the driver who can move the team forward, not Petrov.

 

Two drivers fined for incidents

Pastor Maldonado (Williams) and Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), have both been fined for incidents during the British Grand Prix.

There were plenty of close wheel-to-wheel action at Sunday´s race at Silverstone, but it got a little too heated between Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Perez. The two were battling for positions, when they touched and Perez retired, while Maldonado has received a €10,000, £8,000, fine as well, as a reprimand for his driving.

And Kamui Kobayashi has received a €25,000, £19,800, for unsafe release pit stop, in which he accidentally hit several of his pit crew members.

“The accident at the pit stop was my fault and I want to apologise to the team,” said Kobayashi.

“Of course I had to push hard for points, but without doubt I braked too late in the pit lane. The front wheels locked, I couldn’t control the car, and this is how I overshot the pit box. I am terribly sorry this happened, and I hope the three mechanics I hit get well soon.”

Penalties all around

The effects of dangerous driving are well-known in the public but try a stunt on a race track and you will be punished there too.

As Michael Schumacher was able to keep his 3rd place finish in the European Grand Prix in Valencia on Sunday, after it was believed that he did not slow down the speed of the car while entering a yellow flag zone, and at the same time having his DRS open, several drivers have now been handed a variety of penalties for their wrong-doings in the thrilling and exciting race.

Pastor Maldonado was involved in an incident where he tried an overtake pass on Lewis Hamilton at Turn 12, where he had to move to the left, and outside of the track, in order to keep up with Lewis Hamilton. However, Hamilton kept his line, he was ahead of Maldonado, but the two hit each other and ended Hamilton´s race. Maldonado has received a post-race penalty of 20 seconds for his crash, leaving Hamilton without blame for the incident.

Former Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari said that Maldonado was overly aggressive towards Hamilton, and the Spaniard pointed the finger of blame on Maldonado.

“He was entirely outside the limits of the track and, honestly, there was no room to overtake at that point,” said Alguersuari.

As if it wasn´t enough, Kamui Kobayashi has also received a penalty, this one for crashing into Felipe Massa and he is bumped down five places on the grid for the British Grand Prix in two weeks. And over at Toro Rosso, Jean-Eric Vergne received a double penalty. His move on Heikki Kovalainen, where he overtook the Finn, but then moved into the path of the Caterham driver causing a collision, cost the Frenchman a fine of €25,000 and a ten-place grid penalty for Silverstone. The stewards said that the severity of the double penalty, should be viewed in light of the “serious nature of the incident”.

Kobayashi given penalty for Silverstone

Sauber´s Kamui Kobayashi has been given a five-grid penalty for the British Grand Prix in two weeks, for his involvement in the incident with Felipe Massa, during the European Grand Prix in Valencia.

The Japanese driver were unable to finish the race, but during the action-packed race in the Valencian harbour, he made contact with other drivers twice. Once with Bruno Senna, for which the latter got the blame, and then the incident with Felipe Massa. As the two drivers came over the bridge of the harbour, Kobayashi hit the side of Massa´s Ferrari and the stewards have decided to penalize Kobayashi with five places for the British Grand Prix.

“What a race today, but I am very disappointed,” Kobayashi said after the race.

I definitely had a good start from seventh. I made up two positions straight away and then overtook Pastor Maldonado on Lap 1. I was fourth and it looked promising.

“At my first pit-stop, after 14 laps, we had a problem with the front-left wheel. After that I was 11th and still had a good chance. On Lap 20 I was following Kimi Räikkönen, who was overtaking Bruno Senna, and then was on the inside next to Senna. I had the wall (on my right) and nowhere to go when we touched. I had to pit for a nose change.

“Later, when the race was restarted after the Safety Car period, I was fighting with Felipe Massa for position. Our cars touched and this time the damage was too bad to continue.”

Kobayashi: Podium is possible

Sauber´s Kamui Kobayashi believes that a podium finish should be possible in the up-coming Monaco Grand Prix next week.

After a 5th place in the recent Spanish Grand Prix, the Japanese driver feels the aerodynamic upgrades installed on the car worked as planned. And even though the Sauber driver also finished 5th in Monaco last year, he is happy about the performance of the car and might even hope for a podium. Speaking to GPUpdate.net on Thursday, Kobayashi said:

“It obviously provides an entirely different challenge than that of the Circuit de Catalunya. In Monaco the car is bouncing on bumps, you have understeer and oversteer when you are driving on the limit and the track doesn’t forgive any mistakes. I think our car will be better in Monaco than it was last year because it has improved in slow corners,” he said. “In 2011 I finished fifth, so the target should be to finish higher up this year. However, even if you are given the best car in Monaco, in the end a lot is down to the driver to get the ultimate tenths of a second out of it.”

“We have seen five different winners in five races, so you could say almost everything is possible this year.

“I believe we have a good car and good chances for good results. The final outcome always depends on a lot of factors. But what you have to do for success is to get every small thing perfectly right over the entire weekend: and that is what I’m aiming at.”

 

Spanish Grand Prix preview – Sauber

As the teams and drivers are looking forward to the fifth round of the championship, after four fly-away races in Australia, Malaysia, China and Bahrain, everyone is eager to return to racing.

Sauber´s two drivers, Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez, are positive for the race on the classic Circuit de Catalunya in Spain, and both drivers had the chance to experience a big aerodynamic package during the in-season testing at Mugello on May 1-3.

Kamui Kobayashi:

“At the Mugello test I definitely had the feeling our new update to the car is a step forward for us. This is good, of course, but only at the Barcelona circuit will we be able to tell how much of an improvement it really is. Not only because testing never allows for proper comparisons to the competition, but also because the Circuit de Catalunya is special. It has everything – fast corners, medium speed corners and slow corners. Although everybody knows that track so well, it is very difficult to get the set up right there. But, in turn, if you really manage to get it right there this normally means the car can be fast on other circuits as well. It will be a challenging weekend for us drivers as well as for the car and the engineers, and I am very much looking forward to going racing again.”

The race in Bahrain was a disappointing result, as Perez managed only 11th and Kobayashi 13th. But Perez is hoping that the new upgrade can boost the performance.

“I am looking forward to the Spanish Grand Prix very much and also to the other forthcoming races in Europe. To me the race at the Circuit de Catalunya is one of the most special ones on the calendar. I obviously know the circuit very well from GP2, from last year’s Formula One race and, of course, from testing. It was there where I scored my first ever F1 points last year when I finished ninth. I hope to get some points again this year. Our recent race in Bahrain was very disappointing, so I really hope our new aero package will work well in Barcelona.”

Although the drivers know the circuit very well and the aero update should be able to give the C31 a push, there are many othr factors to consider. Pirelli will provide the teams with the soft and the hard tyres, and according to Giampaolo Dall´Ara, head of track engineering for Sauber, the real factor is the wear on the front axle.

“The Barcelona track is very complete. It has all kinds of features – low speed, medium speed and high speed corners as well as changes of direction. In some places the circuit is quite bumpy, and the tarmac is abrasive. Although we know this track well from testing it’s always a challenging one. Pirelli will provide us with the soft and the hard tyre. It’s the first time this year that there are two steps between the tyre compounds, which makes it interesting. We expect the soft one to be good in qualifying, while the hard compound should be strong in the race. The limiting factor is the wear on the front axle. However, at the same time the track characteristics stress the rear tyres, therefore the challenge will be to find the best compromise for the set-up of the car. We tested a major upgrade to the car in Mugello, consisting of a new front wing and new bodywork, including a different exhaust exit and a new diffuser. The results of the test were encouraging. However, all the teams had some upgrades, and only the next race weekend will give us confirmation whether we are able to strengthen our position compared to our competitors. Nevertheless I’m confident that we can have a strong performance in Barcelona.”

Barcelona Test Day 4: Kobayashi ends final day on top

Sauber´s Kamui Kobayashi ended the final day if the second pre-season test on top of the time sheets.

Kobayashi set the time early on, as he had switched to Pirelli´s super soft compound an hour before the lunch break. He was then able to set the fastest time of the day, and the fastest time all week, with a 1:22.312.

A nice crisp 8 degrees greeted the drivers and personell on the final day of testing. Heikki Kovalainen was the first man out, again, but he soon encountered a major electrical problem, which took two and a half hours to fix. By then, the lunch break had begun, so Caterham lost valuable running time. Marussia announced that they would not be part of the final testing day, as they had encountered a serious issue with the right rear suspension on their 2011 car.

It was back to, hard, work for Felipe Massa, as he performed a series of aerodynamic tests on the straight line area. This could be seen as a very serious issue, as everyone else did this on the first day. Fernando Alonso also complained about the sheer speed of the F2012 on Tuesday, so perhaps the Ferrari´s are not where they hoped to be at all.

Three stoppages today, Di Resta stopped in the gravel trap just before lunch, fifteen minutes before the chequered flag came down, Kobayashi parked the car at Turn 12, and to top it off Jenson Button stopped in his McLaren, with a minute to go.

So it was anotehr massive day of testing, with a total of 983 laps done. That´s an average of 109 laps per driver, Charles Pic not included. And with a lenght of 4,655 meters, the drivers completed a total of 4,575 kilometres.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
1.	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	01:22.312	144
2.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	01:22.561	134
3.	Paul di Resta	Force India F1	01:23.119	101
4.	Jenson Button	McLaren	01:23.200	115
5.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	01:23.563	103
6.	Mark Webber	Red Bull	01:23.774	85
7.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	01:23.792	92
8.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes Grand Prix	01:23.843	139
9.	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	01:27.047	70
10.	Charles Pic	Marussia	00:00.000	0

Kobayashi stepping it up

Shortly after presenting the Sauber C31 at Jerez, Kamui Kobayashi revealed that he was aiming to become a regular points finisher in the 2012 campaign.

Kobayashi scored 30 points during 2011, this could have been more if the cars hadn´t been disqualified due to rear wing irregularities. And this year the Japanese driver are certain he can perform better.

“2012 will be not only my third season in Formula 1, but also my third with the same team,” Kobayashi says. “We’ve been through a lot together and can benefit from our shared experiences. In my first year with the team, we had a bad start but a good second half to the season; the second year was the exact reverse.

“In our third year together we should be a reliable bet to finish consistently in the points. I’m really looking forward to the new season with Sauber.”