Kobayashi became airborne during Friday Practice. He survived that flight but was not so lucky today in qualifying - Photo Credit: Pirelli
Kamui Kobyashi admitted that his accident during Q2 today in Singapore was entirely his fault and has apologised to his Sauber team.
The Japanese driver became airborne over the second curve of the Turn 10 chicane which propelled his car into a wall. He had not yet set a lap and so qualified only seventeenth.
Team-mate Sergio Perez just missed out on a place in Q3 and will start the Singapore Grand Prix from eleventh place.
“I ended up in the wall in Q2 and the accident was my fault,” admitted Kobayashi. “I feel very sorry for the team. I took too much kerb in turn 10, the car jumped too high and this was the outcome. I saw a chance to fight for Q3, but it didn't work out.
“I was taken to the medical centre and was quite surprised at how carefully they checked me. However, physically I'm absolutely fine. I will do my utmost tomorrow to fight for points and give something back to the team.”
Perez was obviously much happier with qualifying than Kobayashi, and feels that he can score points tomorrow.
“Overall I am pleased with our qualifying performance today, although it is a shame not to have made it into Q3, as it was very close,” said the Mexican. “My lap in Q2 wasn't really perfect, the one in Q1 was actually better, as I felt more traction then. Nevertheless I'm very confident for tomorrow, as we normally have a strong race pace. The circuit is very technical and a driver can easily make a mistake, or with a good performance make a difference. I strongly believe I will finish in the points tomorrow.”
Head of Track Engineering Giampaolo Dall’Ara thinks that Sauber will have good race pace tomorrow, and is relieved that Kobayashi’s accident was not any worse.
“Performance wise we are fairly happy, as we are where we expected to be,” he said. “With a bit more luck maybe we would have got a top ten position, but still Sergio can do a good race from there. For Kamui that was unfortunate. Luckily he didn't hit concrete, but the angle he went in was not nice. However, now we need to look at the car and hope the chassis is not broken.”
