Saturday: Kobayashi offers Q3 to Sauber
Despite a somewhat challenging session in terms of weather, the Japanese driver secures a spot in Q3, on the fourth row, while his teammate Sergio Pérez is not far behind, in 12th position.
Kamui Kobayashi – 8th:
« It was a tricky qualifying session with constantly changing conditions. It was extremely difficult to predict what would work and what wouldn’t, but we managed quite well. I struggled a bit in Q1 because I wasn’t used to the car’s balance with the hard tires, and I didn’t get a chance to do a lap with the softs due to the rain. In Q2, the conditions were still tricky and the track was wet, but in Q3, when I did my final run on new soft tires, everything went the way I wanted. I’m happy with that lap and I would particularly like to thank my team because, thanks to their immense work, we managed to bounce back after what happened on Friday morning. Now I want to give it my all in tomorrow’s race. »
Sergio Perez – 12th:
« I think we did a good job today. It’s really a shame to miss Q3 by 36 thousandths of a second, but I’m quite happy with our performance. It wasn’t an easy qualifying session because of the changing conditions. Overall here, our car is good. This is thanks to some developments but also to the circuit. The high-speed corners suit us quite well. I will have chances to score points tomorrow, thanks to my position on the grid, and I am now looking forward to racing my first British Grand Prix.
Peter Sauber – Team Principal:
« It has become even more difficult to get into the top 10, which makes achieving it bring us even greater joy. Congratulations to Kamui and the team, because today the pace was also very important. Sergio’s twelfth place is also decent, and he saved a set of new tires for the race.
