Kobayashi rumour is rubbish

A rumour circulating the web last week, that Kamui Kobayashi were about to be axed in favour of Jules Bianchi, is rubbish, says Sauber.

Swiss and French newspapers, especially sport365.fr, thought they had the long end of the stick, when they reported that already-signed Kamui Kobayashi were close to be kicked from the Sauber team, in favour of Ferrari´s test driver, Jules Bianchi. Sauber´s engine supplier is Ferrari and have enjoyed a close relationship with the Maranello-based squad for years.

Unfortunately for Bianchi, but fortunately for Kobayashi, there is nothing to these rumours. On the official Twitter profile for Sauber, the team says:

“Unfortunately someone published nonsense about Kamui leaving our team. Stupid. We are very fond of him, he stays with us!”

Difficult race for Sauber

Qualifying 12th was actually a good result for Kamui Kobayashi, as he avoided the bumps and first turn carnage at La Source, and after seeing his team mate Sergio Perez swap paint with Sebastien Buemi´s Toro Rosso on lap five, he was soon up to 6th and looking for some good points.

But on lap 13 he had a get-together with Lewis Hamilton, the two of them had a side-collision, which ended Hamilton´s race. Kamui Kobayashi escaped the blame for it, rightly so, but he then dropped through the positions and ended up in 12th, same as he qualifed, outside the points.

Sergio Perez had an even worse weekend. He ran in seventhfor the first few laps and it looked as if this could be the best result for Sauber. But his brush with Buemi served him a penalty, and a later broken rear axle effectively ended his race.

“On lap five I was in seventh when Sebastien Buemi changed his line in front of me under braking, I tried to avoid hitting him but couldn’t as I had lost downforce,” said Perez.

“I had just overtaken Bruno Senna when I felt there was something seriously wrong at the back of the car, so I drove it carefully back to the pits and that was it for today.”

No changes in line-up for Sauber

Team owner Peter Sauber is happy with the work of his two pilots, and are retaining the services of both for the 2012 season.

Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez have impressed the team boss so much, that he is full of praise for their performances this year. This is Kobayashi´s second full year as a driver, but rookie Perez has also proved to be fast and reliable. The team has enjoyed some good performances during the season, nine points finishes, and are 6th in the standing so far, 31 points after renault in 5th.

“I’m very proud that I can drive another year for this team and I want to thank Peter Sauber and Monisha Kaltenborn (CEO) for putting their faith in me and the guys for all their work,” said Kobayashi. “In 2010 we had a very difficult season and some tough times. We managed to overcome this because we are a strong team.”

“I want to thank Peter and Monisha that they trust me,” he comments. “Of course it is very good to have continuity and this way I can intensively prepare with my Race Engineer for what will be my second Formula 1 season. But for now I’m concentrating on finishing this season on a high. The summer break will be very good for me because since my accident in Monaco it has been a busy time.”

Peter Sauber comments on the leader-role for Kobayashi:

“We are very pleased with our drivers,” said Peter Sauber.

“Kamui has grown into his role extremely well this year. Though it is only his second full Formula 1 season, he is already taking on the responsibilities that naturally fall to the more experienced driver in the team. We are delighted with him at both a sporting and a personal level. We had an option of working with him in 2012 and there was never any doubt that we would take it.”

Quotes from the drivers

24 drivers line up this weekend at Nurburgring to compete in the German Grand Prix, and I have collected some of the quotes made by some drivers ahead of the weekend.

Mark Webber, who have been linked with a move away from Red Bull, seems happy with staying at the Austrian team, and he won here in 2009, picking up his maiden pole too. Webber says the track has a special place in his heart, naturally, and that the weather can play a huge part.

“I love racing at the Nurburgring and of course it’s where I won my first race in 2009 so it already has a special place in my heart – I’m looking forward to getting back there,” Webber said.“The weather is often unpredictable in the Eifel mountains and if that’s the case this weekend, it means you have to think on your feet and make some snappy decisions to benefit from changing and tricky track conditions.”

A race in Germany will always be something special for the team. Though the factory is located in the UK, Vettel is German and so this is his home race. For the team, its the closest they´ll get to Austria.

“Of course the German and next week’s Hungarian Grand Prix are the closest Red Bull has to a home Grand Prix so the support is going to be pretty amazing for the team and for Sebastian in particular on his home soil, as well as all the other German drivers on the grid.

“The fans take F1 very seriously and are incredibly passionate about it – I hear those track campsites are pretty wild places to be over a Grand Prix weekend! We can always hear the music pumping out, even from our team hotel!”

Jenson Button, who suffered retirement at Silverstone, is looking forward to add another win to his single victory of the season so far, and the briton is looking back on some memorable moments.

“This is a truly historic and equally tricky circuit and not to be underestimated,” said Button. “You’ve got the rest of the 14-mile original layout just next door and there have been some memorable moments in the sport, both good and bad, often in the same weekend. Think of 1976, where James Hunt won in a McLaren but Niki Lauda had an appalling accident, or 1968, where Sir Jackie Stewart was almost blinded by mist and spray but won by four minutes just driving from memory.”

“This is a race I’d really like to win. In my championship year I finished fifth and my best position before then was third, back in 2004. To be able to say you’ve won at the Nürburgring is a major achievement because it’s such a historic and challenging location. People don’t drive around with Nordschliefe stickers on their bootlids for nothing!

Over at Toro Rosso, Jaime Alguersuari is actually not looking forward to performing well in qualifying, because he fears that he will then not score points in the race. Confused?

In Canada, Valencia and Silverstone, Alguersuari failed to make it into the final shoot-out, but ended up scoring points in all three races. Conversely, he failed to score any points in the first five races of the season, despite making it into Q2 or Q3. The issue is tyres.

“I wouldn’t mind not going into Q2 and qualifying eighteenth at the Nurburging,” Alguersuari said. “That way I keep a set of tyres.

“I am sure about it because at first I did the opposite and it was very bad. I’d prefer not to qualify, have a good race car and finish in the points.”

“For me, the championship is decided already,” he added. “This year the Red Bulls don’t break down and, compared to us, are in a different galaxy.”

Sauber´s Sergio Perez is very keen to repeat his performance at Silverstone and after missing two races after crashing during practice in Monaco, he came back to score a seventh place.

“After Silverstone, the Nürburgring is another historical racetrack and, like in the UK, is in another country where I have lived,” the 21-year-old said. “I am very much looking forward to going back to Germany and having a good race there. For me, after having missed two grands prix this year, it is very important now to push forward for the rest of the season and especially before the summer break, which is a very intense period with three races in one month.

“I also drove on the Nordschleife once in a road car; obviously it is an amazing track. On the modern circuit, one of my favourites is the chicane in the last sector, which I enjoy a lot. I also think the circuit should suit our car quite well and, summing it all up, we should have a good race there.”

Team mate Kamui Kobayashi, is relishing his status as a risk-taker but one who knows what he is doing. He has impressed everyone in his team, and seems to be like difficult races. Such as Nurburgring.

“I have only raced once at the Nürburgring, and this was when I drove in GP2 in 2009,” said Kobayashi.

“I remember it being quite a tricky and difficult circuit because it goes up-and-down quite a lot. Nevertheless, I expect with it being a fast track again, like Silverstone, it should be good for us. We know in high-speed corners we are very strong, so hopefully we can show a good performance again. I’m very much looking forward to it. I also like swapping the tracks in Germany, as it is nice to have a variety.”

Sauber technical director James Key:

“The Nürburgring is quite a mixed circuit with different features, which makes it hard to characterise,” the Englishman opined. “Good braking stability is important into Turn One, where there is a potential overtaking opportunity. The first sector is relatively low-speed, or at least it is after Turn One which results in a car that needs good traction and good levels of downforce; then there is a high-speed section down to the hairpin, which presents another overtaking opportunity.

“The second half to the lap is relatively high-speed. Primarily, it consists of medium and slow-speed corners and a couple of relatively long straights with a chicane at the end and a difficult last corner. It is a challenge for the engineers and drivers to try and get it right, particularly in qualifying. It’s going to be an interesting weekend, because there are many different challenges with the big mix of corners and straights.

“The tyre compounds will be medium and soft. We know the medium tyres were a little tricky in Canada, so we have to work on them; the softs should be okay. The car will continue with the updates we brought to Silverstone, which worked well, and we will have a further small update on the diffuser and the rear brake ducts. After our good performance at Silverstone, we look forward to carrying that momentum forward and trying to score more points in Germany.”

Kobayashi: I pledge my allegiance….

Kamui Kobayashi, the fast Sauber driver who finished fifth in Sunday´s race in Monaco, are homeless.

The 24 year-old, partnering rookie Sergio Perez, does not have a permanent home yet, as his racing career has taken all his time. He reveals that Switzerland could be a possibility, but he hasn´t decided where to live yet.

So will it be Switzerland, the home of many F1 stars?

“That would be nice. But I’m still thinking about where to live.” Asked what he meant, Kobayashi explained: “I have no house, no home. I don’t know where I should live. I have no base at the moment except for a big suitcase. At the moment I’m going from hotel to hotel. I’m always on the move anyway.

“But now I need to ask myself a question — who do I pay tax to now?” he joked.

The Japanese driver attracted a lot of positive attention last year, when his speciality overtakings became apparent and he is improving his standings race by race, with the other teams. But for now, he will stay at Peter Sauber´s team.

Asked how big his loyalty is to Peter Sauber, he answered: “Very big, because he had faith in me. Because I owe him almost everything for being in F1.

“Also, because I fulfill my contracts right up to the last day.”

Career best for Kobayashi

Sauber´s Kamui Kobayashi is delighted to have scored his career best result in Monaco.

Having opted for just one pit-stop, the Japanese driver made the best of the good race-trim of his car. Lap by lap he stayed in a position where he was always able to be close to the front, and this especially were the case in the later stages, after the race had been re-started. Unfortunately he was not able to hold on to fourth place to Mark Webber, but fifth in a Sauber is certainly a job well done.

“I am very happy,” Kobayashi commented. “I was struggling a lot in qualifying, but the team did a great job with the pit stop strategy today. The call for the tyre change came at a perfect time. It was no problem to go for such a long stint with the Super Soft tyres and I think they would have lasted even longer.

“After the start I had problems with traffic, but then one after the other they stopped and it became better for me. After my one and only pit stop I was stuck behind Adrian Sutil, and at the same time I had to defend against Mark Webber. In this situation it was a bit difficult to manage the tyres.

“Without the restart I obviously could have finished fourth. But when Mark was so close behind me on the final laps there was nothing I could do to defend that place. However, I think fifth is a great achievement at the end of what was a difficult weekend.”

One can only imagine what a fantastic weekend it could have been, if only Sergio Perez hadn´t crashed Saturday. The Saubers are looking stronger for each race.