Saturday: Kobayashi takes Sauber into Q3 in front of his home crowd
The Japanese driver honored the crowd gathered in the Suzuka stands with the fastest time in Q1 before making it to the top 10 in qualifying. His teammate, less fortunate, was forced to retire in Q2 due to a hydraulic issue with his car.
Kamui Kobayashi – 13th and 10th:
« I am very happy that we joined the Top 10 in qualifying at Suzuka. I really enjoy seeing the fans here. During free practice, we struggled a lot with the car’s balance, but the setup changes we made for qualifying worked. I think considering the car’s pace, we can say that the new aerodynamic package is starting to work. My laps in Q1 and Q2 were good and I can’t complain. We have tires left for tomorrow’s race, and the race is what matters most. I want to score points in front of this crowd. »
Sergio Perez – 14th and 17th:
« As we can see with Kamui’s result, the car is quite competitive and I was optimistic about my chances of making it to Q3 as well, but during my last lap in Q1, in the second sector, I suddenly had a hydraulic problem, I lost everything, starting with the power steering. So, I couldn’t participate in Q2, which is obviously disappointing. The mechanics worked very hard to try to fix it, but we need to find the source of the problem, and I’m sure it’ll be fine for the race.
For me, the weekend is not so easy because I also have a bit of a cold. However, the positive aspect of things is that I have plenty of good tires for tomorrow.
James Key, Technical Director:
« This morning, we continued to work on the new features we brought here and finally arrived at solutions for what we needed for the qualifications. Both drivers were satisfied after the free practice sessions, even though Kamui still had some issues in certain tight corners.
In qualifying, Kamui did a fantastic job to make it to Q3. He had a good lap and showed that the car behaved as expected. We hope to have an equally solid race tomorrow. For Sergio, it was really unfortunate. He also had a chance to get into the top 10 but, unfortunately, we encountered a hydraulic issue on his car that the guys managed to fix quickly, but we decided, in the end, not to send him out on track to avoid risking further problems. We’ll study this tonight.
