Sauber: Perez salvages a point from hectic race

2011 Singapore GP team review

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Contact with Michael Schumacher and Bruno Senna failed to keep Sergio Perez from the top ten.

Kamui KobayashiSergio Perez
Qualifying position1711
Qualifying time comparison (Q1)1’48.054 (+0.337)1’47.717
Race position1410
Laps59/6160/61
Pit stops32

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

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

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455565758596061
Kamui Kobayashi131.255120.154118.772119.114118.818118.368119.624118.735118.574120.339121.02119.083120.072121.336119.52127.081136.848115.555114.876115.548117.188117.098117.196117.539117.069117.109119.256118.394146.179169.063167.681160.711115.961115.218114.626116.103116.338113.346113.284121.482134.377121.778115.269115.005115.977117.48114.402115.545118.891116.172116.046116.374125.728137.761112.826111.329113.101115.926120.793
Sergio Perez128.277118.627118.125117.637117.492117.009116.97116.975117.226118.07117.761117.967119.07119.834129.367137.312115.252115.178115.116116.556116.622115.9115.489116.223115.402116.172117.354116.795139.982165.898124.463116.807140.499119.033118.835117.705115.794115.451115.353115.458114.928114.615115.332114.834115.301114.944115.429114.855115.43116.147115.92115.208115.512116.237117.018117.094117.428117.921119.072122.372

Kamui Kobayashi

Start tyreSoft
Pit stop 1Soft 30.464s
Pit stop 2Super soft 31.602s
Pit stop 3Super soft 30.869s

Looked ragged through the turn ten chicane in practice. It caught him out in qualifying, planting the Sauber into the barriers and leaving him 17th on the grid.

Kobayashi ran an unusual strategy, starting on softs then taking a second set, before switching to super softs during the safety car period.

He couldn’t make it to the end without a further stop but his race was spoiled anyway for a drive-through notice for not paying sufficient attention to blue flags.

He said he was “very surprised” by the penalty, adding: “I didn’t see any blue flags.”

Kamui Kobayashi 2011 form guide

Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez, Sauber, Singapore, 2011
Start tyreSuper soft
Pit stop 1Soft 30.81s
Pit stop 2Soft 33.344s

Missed out on Q3 by a tenth of a second, lining up 11th on the grid.

Having started on super soft tyres, he moved up to ninth and was battling for position with the Mercedes drivers.

He swapped places with Nico Rosberg before Michael Schumacher crashed into him at turn eight in a move Perez described as “too optimistic”. Perez suffered a puncture, but was able to pit under the safety car without losing a position.

The next assault came from Bruno Senna, who had been mistakenly informed by his team that he was racing Perez for position, despite actually behind a lap behind.

Nonetheless he completed the second half of the race on a set of soft tyres. He started the final lap in ninth, but was passed by the recovering Felipe Massa, who was around two seconds per laps faster at the time.

Sergio Perez 2011 form guide

2011 Singapore Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
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    15 comments on “Sauber: Perez salvages a point from hectic race”

    1. Perez had a brilliant weekend. Very pleased with his performance. As much as I like Nico Rosberg, I still think he should have conceded Sergio’s place back to him after he’d shoved him off. It’s also a relief that Schumacher didn’t compromise his race too much and that he was able to salvage a point from it all.

      Bit of a shame for Kamui. His mistake in Qualifying pretty much destroyed his weekend. I still have a lot of faith in him putting on another spectacular performance at his home race in Japan.

      1. I disagree with Rosberg, Perez and Rosberg were pretty much exactly side by side. Perez knew Rosberg was there, and I think he could have left him some more space.

    2. “I didn’t see any blue flags.”
      He attributed his overtaking skills to his small eyes and the above is a flip side of it ;)

      1. Blue flags? There were blue lights all over the place.

        1. If I remember well, KK was at that point chasing cars that were a lap down from himself (after the SC period).

          I thought that was why he did not care about blue flags (interpreting them as being shown for the guys in front of him).

          But not even seeing them… :-)

    3. Kamui is a great character. I’m sure he was too busy racing to see those flags, but maybe that was the whole problem!

      Perez is doing well again, the Sauber has lost a bit compared to, especially, FI since earlier in the year but he is consistent, and has been able to get reasonable to good results despite it.

      It still seems they are stuck in their 7th spot in the WCC and might have to fight to hang on to that. Still, last year they ended 8th, with a points total they look to equal or better. Of course, it is partly Williams falling away from their 2010 6th that brings both FI and Sauber forward.

    4. his race was spoiled anyway for a drive-through notice for not paying sufficient attention to blue flags.

      He was he was “very surprised” by the penalty, adding: “I didn’t see any blue flags.”

      First, you’ve got an extra “he was” in there. ;)

      Second, Kamui, I love ya bud, but that’s one of the best “derp” quotes of this year X)

      1. Corrected, thanks.

      2. Yeah, I really love that quote as well.

    5. I’m really surprised by the consistency of Perez race laptimes…

    6. When Perez and Rosberg were battling to T1 did anyone see Perez make two moves to the left? I was sure I did but maybe I was wrong as it was never mentioned.

      Anyway, great weekend from Sergio. I’m still not convinced at all about Kobayashi’s pace but Perez is doing really well which is nice to see.

    7. Good run by Perez dispite his run with Schumacher.

    8. I am a huge Sergio Pérez fan,. He has been doing incredible this season as a rookie. Incredible tyre preservation at Singapore and Australia,. I also used to be a schumi fan until his last incident with Sergio. I was so relieved to see Sergio continue on from both
      near both Schumacher and Rosberg.

    9. Always a shame to see a driver in the wall and perhaps I was a little optimistic in hoping that Kobayashi would turn a terrible qualifying into a top race performance. Perez was very lucky in his incident with Schumacher, that could have ended his race quite easily.

    10. He started the final lap in ninth, but was passed by the recovering Felipe Massa, who was around two seconds per laps faster at the time.

      Massa was over 10 seconds behind at one point and 4 laps later was just over 1 second behind, just before Alguersuari’s crash, which was brilliant, but Perez was unlucky as he had a great race and was passed in the end.

    Comments are closed.