Kobayashi scores solid points for Sauber
The Sauber F1 Team leaves Montreal with six more points to its tally. After having qualified 13th and 17th respectively, Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa lined up second and ninth on the grid for the restart. The second part of the Canadian Grand Prix was less successful. De la Rosa lost time due to a damaged front wing and Kobayashi dropped back to 7th on a drying track.
Kamui Kobayashi, 7th, Sauber C30-Ferrari (Chassis 01 / Ferrari 056):
Tyres: Start wet tyres, re-start wet, after 36 laps intermediates, after 53 laps supersoft
”We have scored points and in the end this is most important. We have proved we are good in the wet, but when the track became dry my pace wasn’t good enough to defend my position. Originally I qualified 13th so then it is not bad to finish seventh, but on the other hand I started second after the long red flag and looking from there the result is disappointing. I really tried to bring the car home in a better position, but it didn’t work out.“
Pedro de la Rosa, 12th, Sauber C30-Ferrari (Chassis 02 / Ferrari 056):
Tyres: start wet tyres, re-start wet, after 35 laps intermediates, after 52 laps supersoft
“First of all I want to thank the FIA. It stopped the race when it became too dangerous and I think every safety car call was right. Before the red flag it became impossible to drive. You could not see anything and I was aquaplaning in every gear. However, I came from 17th and resumed the race in ninth behind the safety car. But just before the restart Jenson (Button) and I touched and I had to pit because of a damaged front wing. This ruined my race, I lost many positions, and I even lost a few more later when I got stuck in first gear. On top of that I lost time due to some backmarkers. I tried to recover from this as well as possible, but points were then out of reach. I must say it could have been a lot better today, but also the team made very good pit calls, so thanks for this. It was an extremely eventful race, especially for somebody who had just stepped into a car at short notice. I will not forget these days here, this is for sure.”
Peter Sauber, Team Principal:
“This weekend started really badly for us with Sergio not being able to race for health reasons. However, going into the race from P13 and P17 and scoring six points is quite an achievement we can be proud of. Nevertheless there is also a slight disappointment because after the re-start we hoped for more. But circumstances didn’t help us. Congratulations to Kamui for a great race, and a big thank you to Pedro for all his efforts.”
James Key, Technical Director:
“Overall this has been a pretty tough weekend with mixed fortunes. After some difficult practice sessions we hoped for a better showing in the race, and overall that’s what we got. Both drivers did well at the beginning of the race to make progress. It was a good call from the drivers and the team to initially stay out and gain some positions. Kamui held his positions pretty well after the re-start, and all looked fairly reasonable on wet tyres. The change to intermediates went pretty well for Kamui, but I think safety cars and the dry conditions in the end put us at a slight disadvantage with some quicker cars coming from behind, and Kamui couldn’t really defend against some of them. Sadly we ended up seventh. There was the potential for a better result, but then we can't complain because we started further back. Overall Kamui did a fantastic job keeping it all together under pressure. To get piped by a couple of hundredths at the line in the end was rather unfortunate, but we collected six points. Pedro was looking okay, but then he had some front wing damage which unfortunately dropped him back a bit just outside the points. Otherwise he drove a solid race, and we thank him a lot for getting into the car at short notice and racing well.”
