Sauber were unfortunate to lose both cars from qualifying in Belgium on Saturday, with Kamui Kobayashi crashing his car at the Rivage hairpin just moments before team-mate Pedro de la Rosa lost control just six corners further round the circuit, at Stavelot.
With a sudden rain shower following the red flag causing much chaos and a qualifying lottery, Kobayashi became the second man to retire prematurely from the session after Vitaly Petrov spun his Renault – causing the stoppage – on his out-lap.
“It’s a real shame,” said the Japanese pilot. “At the beginning of Q1, when it was dry, the car was good but after the session had been red-flagged there wasn’t enough time to put in a timed lap before the rain set in. That was the same for everybody.
“When the rain stopped, we went out first on Intermediate tyres and then we made a mistake when we changed to Slicks. To be on the safe side, we should have continued with Intermediates.”
“I am absolutely disappointed with this result,” Spaniard de la Rosa confirmed. “The car was really good and in terms of performance I’m sure we were in a position to fight for Q3.
“We opted for the wrong tyre choice, as it was definitely too optimistic to go for Slicks, and I made a mistake when I lost the rear end of the car before Turn 14. I overestimated the track conditions there and crashed into the barrier – it’s a terrible result.”
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