Sauber: Two penalties in one race for Perez
2011 Chinese GP team review
Sergio Perez picked up two penalties during the Chinese Grand Prix.
| Kamui Kobayashi | Sergio Perez | |
| Qualifying position | 13 | 12 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q2) | 1’36.236 (+0.183) | 1’36.053 |
| Race position | 10 | 17 |
| Laps | 56/56 | 55/56 |
| Pit stops | 2 | 3 |
Sauber drivers’ lap times throughout the race:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | |
| Kamui Kobayashi | 113.064 | 106.676 | 105.573 | 105.003 | 105.063 | 105.522 | 104.773 | 105.372 | 105.352 | 105.527 | 105.842 | 105.168 | 105.645 | 111.302 | 121.391 | 106.879 | 103.29 | 103.58 | 103.864 | 104.043 | 104.183 | 103.55 | 104.006 | 103.907 | 104.186 | 104.437 | 104.477 | 104.415 | 105.057 | 110.413 | 120.918 | 102.577 | 103.032 | 102.82 | 102.864 | 103.307 | 103.134 | 103.115 | 102.738 | 102.768 | 102.694 | 102.784 | 102.824 | 102.786 | 102.965 | 102.661 | 102.852 | 103.211 | 102.967 | 103.322 | 103.9 | 103.838 | 103.844 | 103.879 | 103.852 | 104.287 |
| Sergio Perez | 115.657 | 107.461 | 105.983 | 106.689 | 106.2 | 105.598 | 105.964 | 105.912 | 106.742 | 106.1 | 105.993 | 105.743 | 104.474 | 104.736 | 105.201 | 110.414 | 120.445 | 103.72 | 102.968 | 103.457 | 103.301 | 103.373 | 103.738 | 103.34 | 103.499 | 103.621 | 103.275 | 103.557 | 104.919 | 105.749 | 104.19 | 103.695 | 104.362 | 104.822 | 104.869 | 108.681 | 121.638 | 102.235 | 101.643 | 101.981 | 101.801 | 102.901 | 103.004 | 101.889 | 103.812 | 103.695 | 113.91 | 107.07 | 112.005 | 106.738 | 130.56 | 102.338 | 103.243 | 102.845 | 103.678 |
Kamui Kobayashi
Kobayashi was one of several drivers caught out by the red flag in Q2 and took 13th on the grid.
He passed Jaime Alguersuari for tenth and ran a two-stop strategy to hold onto the position.
Although he couldn’t keep Vitaly Petrov behind he passed Paul di Resta with four laps to go to claim the final point.
He damaged the nose of his car early on but it did not prove a great problem:
“When I was trying to get close to Adrian [Sutil] on lap 14 we came across another car and I think the driver did not see me. We touched and this was when I got a hole in the car’s nose.
“Technically it was not a problem to drive with that, but practically quite a lot of dust and dirt came into the cockpit. My white overalls looked awfully dirty in the end, but this is obviously not important.”
Kamui Kobayashi 2011 form guide
Sergio Perez, Sauber, Shanghai, 2011
Sergio Perez
Sergio Perez out-qualified his team mate for the first time but picked up two drive-through penalties during the race.
The first came after he collided with Sutil, which he apologised for: “Most importantly I’m very sorry for the accident with Adrian – I am sorry for him and sorry for my team. At this time in the race I wanted to get the most out of my tyres, as I was under pressure from Vitaly [Petrov], so was quite aggressive.
“Unfortunately I lost the rear when I was already on the inside of Adrian and crashed into him. It is a real shame because, as I said before, this weekend I felt a lot more comfortable with the car than ever before.”
His second penalty appears to have been for his collision with Nick Heidfeld. An FIA stewards’ statement (PDF link) says no action was taken, however the team believe that is what the penalty was issued for.
2011 Chinese Grand Prix
- Hamilton: ‘It’s sweeter to win by overtaking’
- 2011 Chinese Grand Prix: complete race weekend review
- Who was the best driver of the Chinese GP weekend?
- McLaren: Button’s pit mistakes almost cost Hamilton
- Red Bull: Poor qualifying gives strategy advantage to Webber
- Ferrari: Montezemolo demands reaction after poor result
- Mercedes: Rosberg beats Ferraris despite fuel worries
- Renault: Points salvaged after poor qualifying
- Sauber: Two penalties in one race for Perez
- Lotus: Kovalainen joins in midfield battle
Image © Sauber F1 Team
Mack41 (@mack41) said on 18th April 2011, 15:21
Kobayashi finishing in the points again. Tough race for Perez but he showed flashes of skill in his overtaking; very fast and aggressive. Hopefully he can focus his aggression a bit more like Kobayashi has and added with a decent upgrade heading to Europe I wouldn’t be surprised to see both Saubers consistently in the points. (At least thats what I would like lol)
Todfod (@todfod) said on 18th April 2011, 16:31
Agree. A lot of people are saying that Perez drove awfully during the race, but I thought he was awesomely aggressive but made a mistake when he was racing Sutil. The Heidfeld incident was as much Nick’s fault as it was Sergio’s. Nick just shut the door on him too late and there was contact.
US_Peter (@us_peter) said on 19th April 2011, 3:43
Yeah, his aggression is a lot like Kobayashi last year. If they can make some upgrades to the car, I think they could be fighting for points pretty regularly.
Fixy (@fixy) said on 18th April 2011, 15:27
I didn’t understand if the second penalty was applied during or after the race.
F1iLike said on 19th April 2011, 10:00
They should stop these penalties. Mistakes and racing shouldn’t be punished like this. Idiotic stewards.
DaveF1 (@davef1) said on 18th April 2011, 15:30
Bit of a reckless race for Perez but he certainly does show a lot potential, especially in overtakes. Maybe Kamui’s been giving him lessons. =P
BasCB (@bascb) said on 18th April 2011, 15:30
Curious, even the team doesn’t know for sure what that penalty exactly was for!
Bernard (@bernard) said on 18th April 2011, 15:56
The FIA are pathetic.
bosyber (@bosyber) said on 19th April 2011, 8:01
In this case, definitely – how can they not know what they issued a penalty for! And how does a penalty have any signalling effect if it is unclear what you did wrong to receive it.
Calum (@calum) said on 18th April 2011, 15:38
Perez – 3 penalties in 3 races. ;)
Eggry (@eggry) said on 18th April 2011, 16:56
This could be record. isn’t it?
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65) said on 18th April 2011, 15:48
Loving Koba more race by race, doesn’t seem japanese at all!. And Perez aswell: once we get to those European tracks he knows, he’ll definetly shine.
Great job by Sauber!
soundscape (@soundscape) said on 19th April 2011, 3:36
Huh?
Michel S. (@hircus) said on 19th April 2011, 17:47
I think he meant Kobayashi’s unlike the previous Japanese drivers we’ve seen in F1. Satoru Nakajima got a podium, and Sato can be fast at times, but it seems that Kobayashi could be the whole package.
ManjuBoy (@manjuboy) said on 18th April 2011, 16:56
After an impressive debut in the last two races of 2009, Kamui’s 2010 season began with crashes and car failures. Around this time last year many people were thinking he needed to dial back the aggressive and drive smarter. By summer it was obvious he had and began racing impressively, especially at Suzuka.
I think Perez can go through the same kind of evolution, because he seems to have great talent as a base. Maybe Kobayashi was able to mature as a driver being around Pedro de la Rosa last year. Hopefully, Sergio can learn the same lessons from Kamui this season.
Oliver said on 19th April 2011, 7:31
You make it seem like Kobayashi was just crashing into cars last year. The bulk of the incidents in which he was involved in last year, he was just a victim of other drivers losing control of their cars. There were only 1 or 2 incidents when he caused an accident.
Eggry (@eggry) said on 18th April 2011, 16:58
Two aggressive young drivers makes me smile. All hail Peter Sauber!
TiMi said on 18th April 2011, 17:00
Woah kobayashi’s lap times after his second stop are very consistent and for a hell of a lot of laps!! That sauber is so easy on it’s tires
Ben Curly (@ben-curly) said on 18th April 2011, 17:51
So even the stewards don’t know what the second penalty was for? I don’t use this acronym often, but ***?
Jesus Yoon said on 18th April 2011, 18:33
I read PDF but couldn’t find Perez’s penalty.
car 15 is Di Resta’s. :)
Saltire said on 18th April 2011, 19:37
That’s what I thought too. Mind you the FIA have missed out half the technical report for the race so maybe he did get another drive through
AG said on 20th April 2011, 19:01
I read somewhere that it was 10,000.
Fernando Deutsch said on 18th April 2011, 19:52
Perez lost to many positions at the start, I though he was on hards but actually was running softs. Did some good passes and was having times very close to Renault. Indeed I think Checo overtook himself when trying passing Sutil. The situation with Heidfield was for me a race incident only, they were figthing for position.
Koba has done a great job, even his pace on race was a bit slower than Checo, he did a great race start and helped him a lot. I think Sauber has been good on race pace. I always check the real timing, it gives you a great insight of what is happening at the race.
d3v0 (@d3v0) said on 18th April 2011, 20:20
But look at his pace compared with KOB’s…
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 18th April 2011, 21:11
Seems a bit odd about the second drive-through penalty, not quite sure I understand that!
Nice to see Perez finish his second race, shame he couldn’t finish any higher.
Great again from Kobayashi.
MattHT (@mattht) said on 18th April 2011, 22:38
As with Fer no.65 (up there ^ somewhere)I’m looking forward to seeing Perez on the European tracks, should be interesting, I like the early signs of watching this guy race F1 cars. Kamui is a madman.