Kamui Kobayashi says Sauber need to improve for 2012 season’s qualifying rounds – Formula 1 news
Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi has said that his team needs to make progress in the qualifying rounds of the 2012 Formula 1 season in order to have better position in the championship standings.
Kobayashi added that he thinks the team has had a pretty good 2011 Formula 1 season. He also mentioned that they had good direction from the start of the championship battle and nobody expected from them to do so well on the grid.
The team driver discussed his experience with Pirelli tyres and stated that at some point, he has to adapt himself better to the tyres, but on Saturdays sessions’ he has been unable to make progress on them in most of the part of the season.
Kobayashi commented, “Whether we start 16th or last we're up to the challenge and can make the points which is good. I have had a lot of problems warming up the tyre, so [qualifying] is where we look for speed.”
The Japanese went on to mention, “We're not really thinking about Toro Rosso, but more how we manage to get the best out of the car. This is really the target for me. We are not a big team, and our car development is not really brilliant - we can make small
steps but others have made bigger steps. It's difficult to judge.”
The 25-year-old driver further added that the team Sauber will focus on improving their own performance rather than worrying about their rivals in 2012.
Kobayashi believes if they make progress in qualifying, they can get better position on the raceday.
In the 2011 Abu Dhabi race weekend, the Hinwil-based outfit driver was unable to have good place in Q3 for Sunday’s race. After starting the Grand Prix from the16th position at the Yas Marina Circuit, he ended up in the tenth spot after running
in his C30 car.
His teammate Sergio Perez was behind Kobayashi in the final Abu Dhabi race classifications. He claimed 11th position for the team in the end.
After finishing 18 rounds of the 2011 F1 season until now, Kobayashi is sitting at the 12th position with 28 points in the drivers’ championship while Perez is at the 16th place with 14 points at the moment.
Let’s see how both of them manage the last round of the season in Brazil this weekend.
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