Points and a retirement for Sauber at Silverstone
By finishing sixth in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Kamui Kobayashi scored eight championship points and this is the best result for the team so far. 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.
Kamui Kobayashi: 6th
C29.02 / Ferrari 056
“I’m really happy, but actually I don’t have much to tell. 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.”
Pedro de la Rosa: DNF (accident on lap 26)
C29.04 / Ferrari 056
“Naturally I’m very disappointed. 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.”
Peter Sauber, Team Principal: “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.”
James Key, Technical Director: “I am very pleased we brought home points for the second race in a row. We consolidated our performance shown in qualifying. Kamui had an excellent first lap and then he drove a very controlled race - again with no mistakes. The team also got everything right and the pit stop strategy was fine. It is a great shame for Pedro, because he really deserved a good race result. But after the collision the rear wing endplate and diffuser were damaged, and once we have had a first look at it we decided to retire Pedro from the race because we were uncertain about further structural damage.”
