Sauber hopeful to gain a championship position during the last race
The final countdown for the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship has begun: On the weekend of the 25th to the 27th of November the Sauber F1 Team will be doing everything to ultimately gain a position in the Constructors’ Championship.
The Autodromo José Carlos Pace in Interlagos is as famous as it is notorious for thrilling and unexpected racing. While Kamui Kobayashi finished in the top ten in both his starts there - in his debut race in 2009 as well as last year - Sergio Pérez is a first timer at the challenging Brazilian Grand Prix.
Kamui Kobayashi (car number 16): “Sao Paulo is one of my favorite tracks with a nice combination of high speed and low speed corners. Overall, the track layout with its long uphill straight is very nice. The most thrilling aspect of the Brazilian Grand Prix is the fans who are very excited and emotional, and who create a fantastic racing atmosphere. For me Sao Paulo is a special place because it was here where I drove my first Formula One race in 2009. I finished ninth and had some good fights on the track. But there’s another reason why I like to go to Brazil: it’s the Churrascarias with the fantastic meat! Sao Paulo will be the last race of 2011. For our team it has been an exciting season, and I will give my utmost so the team can finish the season with a positive result.”
Sergio Pérez (car number 17): “I have never been to Brazil and I’m very much looking forward to my first visit. Before I fly to Sao Paulo I will spend a few days in Mexico, and I must admit I’m also looking forward to going home. The last time I went back home was during the summer break in August. I have heard a lot about Sao Paulo and Interlagos. Apparently it is a great race track and the crowd can get very emotional. I expect them to be a bit like my Mexican fellow countrymen, and am looking forward to the atmosphere passion creates. Of course I have also had some warnings that the city can be a dangerous place. It will be the final Grand Prix of my rookie season in Formula One. To me this year feels like three years because so much has happened, including my accident in Monaco. However, I think it was a good season. I learnt a lot and was getting better and better with every race. Considering the fact that I had to miss two races in which the car and the team performed very well, I really think I can be happy with what I have achieved so far. Without doubt I am determined to finish this season, which I will personally never forget, on a high.”
James Key, Technical Director: “We have already reached the end of the season. It’s gone very quickly, but equally it’s been a lot of hard work for everyone. Obviously we want to extract the most out of the race in view of our championship position, and, of course, we want to score points there. Sao Paulo is one of these circuits that doesn’t have an obvious optimum wing level. There are two strategies, one which is a higher downforce setting where the middle of the lap is better optimised, and the other one is a lower downforce setting which is better for the long straight up the hill through to turn one and then the second straight down to turn four. That will cause a little bit of work on the wing level, both from a strategic and also the lap time point of view. Pirelli will provide the medium and soft compound tyres, the same ones we had in Abu Dhabi. We think the nature of the track will allow us to get a little bit more out of the tyres over a single lap. In Abu Dhabi we were unable to get the new tyres to work in qualifying, but the nature of the track in Brazil should allow us to use the new tyres better. One thing we have seen over recent years is the weather is quite unpredictable. This may or may not be a factor over the weekend and could be a game changer. With regards to the car, we’ve gathered some good data from the past two events to help us try to improve our qualifying performance a bit more. In addition, we had some test items that we ran in Abu Dhabi, and we will be focusing again on making the most out of those. Otherwise the plan is to maximise our opportunities and try and make sure we can realise the full potential of the car in the race.”
