Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi happy with 10th place finish in 2011 Abu Dhabi GP – Formula 1 news
Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi is happy to be back in the points at the 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix held at the Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday, November 13.
Kobayashi said that he is pleased to have scored a single point in the Abu Dhabi race. He added that he has had quite a long period without scoring points and that it was important for him to end that.
The Japanese driver had a really good start to the Abu Dhabi race weekend. He was able to make up five positions on lap one of the Grand Prix.
He stated that the reason of his better performance during the race was the supportive role of the set of soft and medium tyres by Pirelli. In addition, he mentioned that these compounds performed better than expected throughout the race.
Talking to reporters, the Hinwil-based outfit driver commented, “I started on the medium compound as I was only 16th on the grid, and this is obviously a situation in which you have to take chances. But we knew it would be a difficult first stint, and it
was not really clear how long those tyres would last.”
The 25-year-old driver started the Grand Prix from the 16th place at the Yas Marina Circuit and after battling it out with his rivals, he ended up in the 10th position.
On the other hand, his teammate Sergio Perez stated that they were optimistic for the raceday after a better qualifying round.
The Mexican added, “It is a shame what happened on lap one. There was a queue into turn seven and I couldn't avoid hitting Adrian Sutil's car. It wasn't immediately clear how big the damage was, but then the team told me my front wing was broken and I had
to pit after lap two.”
The team driver came at the 11th position in the final Abu Dhabi race classifications after starting from the same position on the grid.
After 18 rounds of the 2011 Formula 1 season, Sauber are placed at the seventh position with 42 points in the constructors’ standings.
Let’s see how the team performs in the last round of the ongoing season, which will be held in Brazil.
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