Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez hugging each other after an outstanding performance in Kuala Lumpur.
Tag: Sauber
The Ferrari driver wins the Malaysian Grand Prix two seconds ahead of Sergio Perez in a very fast Sauber. Kimi Raikkonen fastest man on the track today.
Sergio Pérez: “It wasn’t an easy day for us. Nevertheless during the 66 laps we collected some very useful data, which we will analyse tonight, so in this regard it was still a satisfying day. I am very much looking forward to tomorrow and I hope we can get a lot more work done then.”
Pictures are fine, but video is better:
Sauber became the sixth Formula 1 team to unveil its car for the 2012 season on Monday morning when the wraps came off the new Ferrari-powered C31. The Swiss squad finished in seventh place in the standings in 2011 after scoring 44 points following a strong start to the season. After a drop in performance during the middle part of the year, Sauber managed to keep rival Toro Rosso at bay thanks to two point-scoring results in the final races of the season, thus securing seventh position. [Source]
View more photos of the car here.
Are you happy with your rookie season?
Sergio Pérez: “Well, I’m happy in terms of the speed I had but I’m not happy in terms of results and points. Also because of my accident I missed two races – Monaco and Canada – in which the car and the team performed very well. After I got back into the car it still took me a few more races until I was really a hundred percent again. But regarding my overall performance in F1, I think I can be happy with my rookie season.”
How did you get over the Monaco accident – physically and mentally?
SP: “Physically I had to wait. This wasn’t easy, but it was important. When I got back into the car for free practice in Canada I realised the difficulties I had. I felt dizzy, so it was impossible to drive. Two weeks later in Valencia I felt a lot better and was able to drive. It was better again in Silverstone and at the Nürburgring, but it was only in Budapest that I felt I was completely over it. It had been a very heavy impact and I learnt it takes time to physically make sure you feel right after suffering from concussion. Mentally it was a shock too. It helped me a lot to go home to Mexico and it was important to do all that work to prepare for racing again.”
Read the full interview here.
Robert Józef Kubica, born 7 December 1984 in Kraków, Poland, is the first Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test driver to race driver during 2006. In June 2008, Kubica took his maiden F1 victory in the Canadian Grand Prix, becoming the 99th driver to win a World Championship race.
The maiden win Canada:
The infamous crash in Canada:
(Photo: Kamui with girlfriend, actress Yu Abiru)
As the dust settles from another Formula One season and preparations for next year go into full swing, Kamui Kobayashi caught up with the Sauber Media team to review his 2011 season and the tough decisions that needed to be made part way through the season when the team abandoned development of the C30’s blown diffuser.
How would you sum up your season?
Kamui Kobayashi: “We had a promising winter testing and a strong start to the season. In the beginning we had every reason to be happy with our performance. Later, I would say from the British Grand Prix onwards, which was the ninth out of 19 races, we struggled due to the decisions made about the rules and our own technical development. We didn’t follow the direction of the ‘off throttle exhaust blown diffuser’ any further. Instead we worked hard on the direction of development we had decided to go in, but we could not make up for the disadvantage that came from not having the same technology as the other teams. I can be happy that I still scored points in the final two races. This was a good achievement under the circumstances.”
Read the full interview here.
Kamui post-race interview from the Monaco Grand Prix:
Slow motion from the Canadian Grand Prix:
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