Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi believes 2011 was a good learning curve for him – Formula 1 news
Kamui Kobayashi said that the 2011 season has developed him into a better and stronger driver.
Kobayashi did not have the best of seasons during 2011, and admitted to being under pressure as his team’s number one driver. Initially his season started off strong with 25 points secured in the first seven races and in the process helping his team hold
on to a 6th place standing in the constructors.
The season started to flounder after the British GP. Although some blame can be put on the Sauber car not being competitive enough, after the British GP as there had been a bizarre rule change mid-season over the usage of off-throttle blown diffuser which
was banned effective from the British GP. FIA though retracted from their decision and allowed it until the end of the season.
Peter Sauber expressed his discontent over the issue and blamed it for their displacement from 6th to 7th place in the constructors. The Japanese driver fell under more pressure as Sauber replaced Nick Heidfeld a veteran of the sport with a rookie Sergio
Perez.
Kobayashi was only able to secure five points in the latter part of the season, but is taking the positives from it. He feels his learning curve improved drastically during the season and that has prepared him well for 2012.
“Certainly it wasn't easy for me,” he said. “I needed to improve a lot in various areas. Not only in driving, but also in making decisions with the engineers. The fact that we had to deal with the new tyres from Pirelli, which were different in character
compared to what we had before, was challenging for me. It was important to find out what was best for the race and how to handle qualifying. There was a big difference in performance between Saturday and Sunday. I think I came to understand many things during
this season.”
It would be interesting to see how well Kobayashi and Sauber perform in 2012, as FIA has finalised 2012’s list of all the tweaks to the rules and regulations and teams will be better prepared for the season.
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