Sauber: Kobayashi crashes, Perez penalised

2011 Belgian GP team review

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Collisions with other cars defined the races of both the Sauber drivers.

Kamui KobayashiSergio Perez
Qualifying position129
Qualifying time comparison (Q2)2’04.757 (+0.132)2’04.625
Race position12
Laps44/4427/44
Pit stops22

Sauber drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2011drivercolours.csv

1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041424344
Kamui Kobayashi125.298117.522117.754117.658118.337116.505116.553117.815117.531117.457118.258118.221134.353157.676179.005167.064116.492117.493116.623115.492115.643115.842115.608116.068116.123115.831115.309115.968119.257126.889114.339113.877114.232114.127113.871114.049113.96114.023114.283116.719114.999114.55114.051114.144
Sergio Perez123.78117.702117.097116.99134.815132.095116.782115.471115.082114.625114.96115.079131.115147.147171.906168.813117.981117.77116.006115.407115.427119.557124.95129.47114.54114.244196.805

Kamui Kobayashi

Kobayashi missed out on Q3 by a tenth of a second and lined up 12th. But he avoided the carnage at the start and after Sergio Perez and Sebastien Buemi collided he was up to sixth, though carrying some front wing damage.

On lap 13 Lewis Hamilton passed him but the pair touched going into Les Combes, putting Hamilton in the barriers. Kobayashi continued and later said: “I knew perfectly well he was faster than me so had no reason to fight with him.” Hamilton accepted blame for the accident.

He made his first pit stop shortly after and ran a long middle stint on softs in an attempt to make up places. But he finished out of the points in 12th.

Kamui Kobayashi 2011 form guide

Sergio Perez, Sauber, Spa-Francorchamps, 2011

Sergio Perez

Perez reached Q3 for the third time this year: “In Q3, when I was on dry tyres for the first time in today’s qualifying and obviously using the soft compound, the track was drying quickly with the conditions improving every single lap.

“In Q1 and Q2 especially it wasn’t easy with the car being set up for the dry conditions.”

He ran seventh at the start before tangling with Sebastien Buemi: “On lap five I was in seventh when Sebastien Buemi changed his line in front of me under braking, I tried to avoid hitting him but couldn’t as I had lost downforce.”

The stewards didn’t see it that way and handed Perez a drive-through penalty – his fourth of the year.

He served the penalty but retired later with a broken rear axle: “I had just overtaken Bruno Senna when I felt there was something seriously wrong at the back of the car, so I drove it carefully back to the pits and that was it for today.”

Sergio Perez 2011 form guide

2011 Belgian Grand Prix

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    Image © Sauber F1 Team

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    Keith Collantine
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    21 comments on “Sauber: Kobayashi crashes, Perez penalised”

    1. Was Perez’s crash with Buemi shown? I don’t remember it, but I was very curious to see how his rear wing got broken like that. And even more curious to know how he got through Eau Rouge at full throttle with a compromised rear wing.

      1. Nope. FOM completely missed that it seems.

      2. It was the excellent FOM director who spared us any view of that incident, sadly

      3. And even more curious to know how he got through Eau Rouge at full throttle with a compromised rear wing.

        It really was terrifying! Didn’t he gain on the driver ahead in the process, too?

        1. They also didn’t showed us in the replay.

          1. We’re missing plenty this season it seems :/

            Half the time I don’t know if i’m just not paying attention or it’s not shown.

    2. Sauber’s strategies haven’t really worked in the last few races. Kobayashi along with Di Resta was caught out by the safety car also. If what Perez says is true, then the penalty sounds harsh. Generally I’d call Sauber unlucky in this race.

      1. It’s funny how Perez gets a questionble penalty and nobody questions it – but as soon as Hamilton gets a “questionable (read: any) penalty, the blog lights up with claims that there is a conspiracy amongst the stewards against him.

        1. Well, maybe that’s because Perez accepted the penalty and didn’t put a show in front of the media claiming that the stewards are racists.
          But generally people react at championship contenders receiving penalties as they influence it’s outcome. The midfield barely draws some attention – what difference does it make if some driver finishes 9th or 10th in the championship?

          1. It make all the difference to the driver in question. And no doubt to the team as well.

            1. Yes it makes all difference to the driver and team but less to most F1 followers who comment on this blog.

        2. Two things come to my mind to answer this question:

          1) The fact that only Championship contenders normally get most of the attention/coverage

          2) Also the fact that this being a UK site, most of the people might have a Pro-Lewis bias (just as much as I have a pro-Perez bias and call his penalty a bit harsh) :D

          Cheers guys

          Jp

          1. I don’t know what you mean by “this bring a UK site”. This site is not designed for or aimed at people of any particular nationality.

        3. It’s not funny at all.

          As any black person in the UK, US, mainland Europe, China, North Africa, Australia (and so on) knows, there’s lots of racism. Eventually you can get a bit paranoid. Hamilton only made a comment in jest – yet it gets turned around and thrown at him every time someone else gets a penalty! Enough.

          Let’s talk about Perez.

      2. They’re staring in the top 10 more often now, and they could do well even without strange strategies. Let’s hope their bad luck stops.

    3. Pretty disappointing weekend to be honest. Especially after the team seemed so optimistic in the build up to the weekend. I’d love for the team to have one nice, boring, uneventful weekend in Monza where there aren’t any incidents or problems with qualifying or whatever so they can really get some solid points.

    4. Kobayashi continued and later said: “I knew perfectly well he was faster than me so had no reason to fight with him.” Hamilton accepted blame for the accident.

      Whats shocking (and apologies if I’m late to the party and someone has already said it), but Hamilton wasn’t faster then Kobyebashing… Hamilton had DRS open, Mercedes power and KERS yet the Sauber creeps up to him still.
      http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/14701124.stm

      Thats good news for the Sauber Team heading into Monza.

      1. This is seemingly because the Saubers ran an extreme low-downforce setup, in which case that is no surprise.

      2. Perez was quite fast as well, even with the damaged front wing, I think it was due to the Saubers running low downforce (as did Mercedes) and McLaren running far higher downforce to get a better total lap time together.

        1. Kobayashi had the damage front wing

    5. I’m glad Kobayashi kept his head down after the race. To me it was always a racing incident, but instigated by Hamilton.

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