The Sauber F1 Team has come back from the summer break in fine style and has recorded its and its drivers best qualifying results so far this season in Spa-Francorchamps ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix. Kamui Kobayashi was second at the end of the session in his Sauber C-31 Ferrari – his previous best being fourth this year in China. Sergio Pérez was fifth, so bettering his sixth place from Barcelona.
Weather: dry, partly cloudy, temperatures, 12-16°C air, 19-28°C track
Kamui Kobayashi:
Sauber C31-Ferrari (Chassis 04/Ferrari 056)
Qualifying: 2nd in Q3 (1:47.871 min / new medium tyres)
3rd practice: 4th (1:48.863 min / new medium tyres / 20 laps)
“I am very happy for the team and myself. We had felt quite positive before we came here, but I think it is fair to say we didn’t expect to be second and fifth in qualifying. We have had strong races this year, but qualifying has been a weakness and the guys have done a great job to improve this. I want to thank them very much. After not having time to learn much in either practice session on Friday because of the rain, like everyone else our first dry running was this morning and after free practice three we knew we were quite good. I will be on the front row tomorrow and this is certainly nice, but we don’t score points for that. The podium must be the target and to reach it we still have a long way to go. We have to get the tyre management and strategy right and cannot allow ourselves the smallest mistake.“