Sauber drivers Sergio Pérez and Kamui Kobayashi had vastly differing Sunday afternoon’s at Suzuka, with the former securing his fourth points finish of the season while the latter slipped back to 13th from his top ten starting position.
"I am very happy for the team to have scored some points here in Japan, especially after we had that technical problem yesterday in qualifying and I had to start 17th," said Pérez. "But today the strategy with the tyres worked out very well for me, and the team did a very good job on this.
"Also the car’s performance was good. I pushed very hard, and gave my maximum today. Physically it was very hard for me because I am suffering from flu, so I’m totally happy that I brought the car home in a position good enough to score points."
"It was a tricky race for me," added Kobayashi. "At the start when I released the clutch the car suddenly was in anti-stall mode, and that was why I lost five positions straight away. I tried to fight other cars then but overtaking wasn’t as easy as it was here last year. Then the safety car came out in what was a bad moment for our strategy.
"I did my second stop when the safety car was out, we changed from the soft to the medium compound and with those tyres I then had to go to the end of the race - 29 laps. In the end they were just so bad that I couldn’t defend my position anymore.
"Anyway, I had a good qualifying here and the car’s performance in the race has definitely improved, so we will keep pushing at the remaining races. I am very proud of all the Japanese fans who are so excited about Formula 1. They are a great crowd and for me it was a very emotional day."
Series
Formula 1
Personalities
Sergio Perez
Kamui Kobayashi
Teams
Sauber
Other
Get your official Formula 1 tickets at Sportstadium.com
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  J. Button | McLaren | 1:30:53.427 |
| 2. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | +1.160 |
| 3. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | +2.006 |
| 4. | M. Webber | Red Bull | +8.071 |
| 5. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | +24.268 |
| 6. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | +27.120 |
| 7. | F. Massa | Ferrari | +28.240 |
| 8. | S. Perez | Sauber | +39.377 |
| 9. | V. Petrov | Lotus Renault | +42.607 |
| 10. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | +44.322 |
| Full results | |||
| Kamui Kobayashi | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
| More Kamui Kobayashi photos | |||
| Sergio Perez | |||
 |  |  |  |
| More Sergio Perez photos | |||
English
Nederlands
Español
Italiano
