[mloversia]

Some of you might wonder why I am posting quite a lot recently  Well I look after schools and they have all finished for summer, so I have time to kill!

One of my current favourite drivers is Kamui Kobayashi. I think he is comfortably the best Japanese driver we have seen in F1. I think he is having a good season, Perez has the two outstanding drives in Malaysia and Canada, but Kobayashi has outqualified Perez more than the other way round, and his race pace has been generally excellent. Of course, his overtaking prowess is still a delight to watch as well. He seems to have a unique control of the brake, no other driver seems to be able to pull off the moves he does.

However, I am hearing rumours that Sauber may replace him for 2013 with Heikki Kovalainen or another driver. Seems a bit of a backward step to me. Although Kobayashi has been a little bit inconsistent this season, he is still in my opinion a driver of immense talent and potential. Was he in the Williams alongside the erratic Maldonado, I think we’d see a vast difference.

I actually think Sauber will get rid of Kobayashi for 2013, I think it may already have been decided. However, I would hate to see him lose out on an F1 drive, or even worse – have to drive for Caterham, Marussia or HRT!

Kovalainen > Sauber
Kobayashi > Williams

I would be happy with that I think 

[VanDerSmok]

Some of you might wonder why I am posting quite a lot recently  Well I look after schools and they have all finished for summer, so I have time to kill!

One of my current favourite drivers is Kamui Kobayashi. I think he is comfortably the best Japanese driver we have seen in F1. I think he is having a good season, Perez has the two outstanding drives in Malaysia and Canada, but Kobayashi has outqualified Perez more than the other way round, and his race pace has been generally excellent. Of course, his overtaking prowess is still a delight to watch as well. He seems to have a unique control of the brake, no other driver seems to be able to pull off the moves he does.

However, I am hearing rumours that Sauber may replace him for 2013 with Heikki Kovalainen or another driver. Seems a bit of a backward step to me. Although Kobayashi has been a little bit inconsistent this season, he is still in my opinion a driver of immense talent and potential. Was he in the Williams alongside the erratic Maldonado, I think we’d see a vast difference.

I actually think Sauber will get rid of Kobayashi for 2013, I think it may already have been decided. However, I would hate to see him lose out on an F1 drive, or even worse – have to drive for Caterham, Marussia or HRT!

Kovalainen > Sauber
Kobayashi > Williams

I would be happy with that I think 

If you follow Sauber's team press releases and interviews they always keep going on about how important it is to get two cars scoring good points which I take to be a warning that they wanted Kamui to score podiums as well.

I do believe its unfair of Sauber to blame Kamui, both times Perez got podiums Kamui's race was destroyed by factors outside his control (going through FP3 and qualifying with broken suspension components then being told by the team not to change to wets to split strategies) usually at the insistence of his team. Also in the two recent wet qualifying sessions his qualifying has been messed up by the team trying aggressive tyre choices. Despite this he has outqualified his much talked about teammate even though Kamui has a reputation for not being quick... That said mistakes at Silverstone and Valencia do not help even though they are rare.

Kamui's biggest problem though is his utter failure to bring sponsors to Sauber beyond small one-race deals. In a sense its also an indication of his strength, no other midfield driver has kept his seat so long without substantial sponsorship.

What mystifies me is the choice of drivers who are supposedly in line for the seat. Heikki is a safe pair of hands but not a star and wouldn't be much different to Kamui (unless he brings sponsorship) while Alguersuari is damaged goods after what STR said about him after releasing him.

[Edit] forgot to add that I want Kamui to keep his Sauber seat but oddly enough I'd been thinking of Williams as a potential destination for him too. They could do with a safe pair of hands.

[xyznicks]

Koba driving for Caterham is not as bad as HK having to drive for them this season. I'd take HK in a heartbeat over Koba! He could out pace Koba in equal cars, drive more consistantly, and he is less prone to go Sato on the field! IMO

[hotsaucemidl]

Being the only Japanese driver on the field, an a quite promising one, I am surprised his car doesn't have more Japanese sponsors.

[fectsnanteemy]

I'd take HK in a heartbeat over Koba! He could out pace Koba in equal cars, drive more consistantly, and he is less prone to go Sato on the field! IMO

I could not disagree more. Koba is a far better driver than HK
HK drove a solid renault and a mclaren for 2 years. I bet you koba's record in those cars would have included more than one race win and being a dog in 75% of others

[mosypeSom]

I could not disagree more. Koba is a far better driver than HK
HK drove a solid renault and a mclaren for 2 years. I bet you koba's record in those cars would have included more than one race win and being a dog in 75% of others

I'm honored to agree to disagree.

[Effofqueeno]

I could not disagree more. Koba is a far better driver than HK
HK drove a solid renault and a mclaren for 2 years. I bet you koba's record in those cars would have included more than one race win and being a dog in 75% of others

I disagree. In 2007 he was better than Fisi - who had exponentially more experience (albeit a lot of testing miles under his belt).
2008 wasn't bad, with a lot bad luck.
In 2009 he was essentially Lewis' guinea pig. He never had a shot, he was there only to test the car out. He was significantly slower the whole year.
Again in the Lotus/Catherham he has been the best driver.

Both are very good drivers, overall HK is the better driver.

In a perfect world, I would say both deserve a spot in a top team - if they both survive two more seasons in F1, it might just happen.

[FailiaFelay]

I could not disagree more. Koba is a far better driver than HK
HK drove a solid renault and a mclaren for 2 years. I bet you koba's record in those cars would have included more than one race win and being a dog in 75% of others

I agree.

I simply don't recognise this talk of Kobayashi being inconsistent or dangerous like Sato. His strength is his ability to reel off quick laps during the race and not letting anything compromise his strategy. He won't move an inch to defend his position if he's overtaken by a frontrunner but anyone racing against him for a similar points position will find him a real handful. He's been a real beast of a midfield driver and arguably the strongest one out there at the moment although Perez is excellent too.

HK has impressed against Trulli and Petrov, the former unable to be at his best unless the car is 100% to his liking and who made it clear he didn't like the Lotus and the latter being Petrov. I simply haven't seen anything that marks him out as anything special.

[Nifoziyfar]

Massa was a recipient of a Sato-esque move from Koba seems like just 3 weeks ago

[unishisse]

I like Koba-san, but I suspect this season is cementing his place in F1 as a driver, who at best can become a perennial midfielder. In 2009 and 2010 he impressed alongside veteran team-mates. But in 2012, just when it really matters in terms of future prospects, he is facing problems against a less (!) experienced team-mate.

When we compare him to Pérez, it has to be mentioned that the Mexican has suffered from lots of unluck this season as well, perhaps even more. Several qualifying sessions have hardly been representative with Pérez suffering some problems, so I don't think Koba is outperforming him in Q's.

Overall it is difficult to rate the car, which is obviously good, because we don't know, how fast these drivers really are. I would like to see some more consistency from everyone involved in the team though, including drivers. Of course it would help if they didn't suffer from some genuine unluck on several occasions, but this is such a topsy-turvy season that barely anyone manages to escape from some real setbacks...

[weaddercaps]

I like Kamui.

He drove well last week and albeit with Vettels penalty. Was a fine 4th. He had good pace to be within 20 odd seconds of the leaders.

He does make some mistakes but he is also brave and has a go.

I remember was it last years Japanese GP he made 10+ moves at the hairpin and was brilliant.

He is the best Japanese driver in F1 yet. (Apart from Yuji Ide of course)

[VQdeochratis]

When we compare him to Pérez, it has to be mentioned that the Mexican has suffered from lots of unluck this season as well, perhaps even more. Several qualifying sessions have hardly been representative with Pérez suffering some problems, so I don't think Koba is outperforming him in Q's.

They've both had problems. Twice when Perez outqualified Kobayashi he did so when the latter either couldn't get his car out in the session (Barcelona) or had a broken component on the car (Sepang). IIRC Perez has only outqualified Kobayashi properly on three occasions so far.

Overall it is difficult to rate the car, which is obviously good, because we don't know, how fast these drivers really are. I would like to see some more consistency from everyone involved in the team though, including drivers. Of course it would help if they didn't suffer from some genuine unluck on several occasions, but this is such a topsy-turvy season that barely anyone manages to escape from some real setbacks...

Its difficult to rate everything with this team because they make it a point to split strategies. At Sepang for instance Kobayashi was kept out on inters because Perez had been changed to wets despite the former driver begging for the wets lap after lap.

Also their strategy calls as a team have often been awful. Although they seem to have gotten out of the habit of keeping drivers out on clearly worn tyres, losing three-four seconds a lap, they seem to have found a new way of avoiding points by gambling everything in wet sessions where the pace of the car suggests they don't need to.

[Peterli]

Oh Kamui darling........You are soooo average

[TEFSADDERFISA]

I like Kamui too, and certainly respect his racecraft much more than have-a-go-Sato.

But man it seemed a bit crazy a while back with people declaring stuff like he's one of the top 5 drivers in the world.

And that was actually on HERE...!

[QQQQQ-Trek]

I like Kamui and personally think he is one of the better racers in the current field. For the most part he drives clean and during the races he is often the guy that makes the move others think can't be made. He does need more consistency, but when you weigh in all the factors some of that problem has been beyond his control.

I hope he stays at Sauber, or moves to a better team.

[2CNWXAqN]

Kobayashi is good and deserves to stay at Sauber. However, his ability to make those impressive passes is not so important now given DRS, Kers and tire wear. I'd certainly favour Perez over Kobayashi if one of them has to go.

[gundorana]

Kobayashi is good and deserves to stay at Sauber. However, his ability to make those impressive passes is not so important now given DRS, Kers and tire wear. I'd certainly favour Perez over Kobayashi if one of them has to go.

This is probably right, however if it is its sad for F1.

A driver let go because his tyre management sucks while being a good overtaker is not enough.

[FateHostera]

If Ferrari had some forethought about them, they'd hire Kamui to replace the under-performing Massa.
Kamui in a Ferrari would either set the world or his car on fire; either way, we'd all all win.

I think he's too good a talent for F1 to simply ignore or throw away.

[diseeKeythilt]

Personally, I have always seen Kobayashi as a rather overrated driver. Yes, he's very entertaining and everything, but sometimes I believe that people have been a bit too optimistic about him. I don't really think that's he's going to become a top driver any day, and -mark my words- neither is Pérez IMHO. I could be in for a huge serving of humble pie, but I don't really think that either of them have what it takes to be on the top shelf.

[overavantstandard]

Personally, I have always seen Kobayashi as a rather overrated driver. Yes, he's very entertaining and everything, but sometimes I believe that people have been a bit too optimistic about him. I don't really think that's he's going to become a top driver any day

I agree with this. People got carried away with Kobayashi fever (which sounds like an actual disease) in 2009.

I regularly post over at F1 Fanatic, and I remember Kobayashi got voted as having performed the Pass of the Year, and all because he overtook Jenson Button in Abu Dhabi, the race after Button was crowned champion. Button had literally just emerged from the pits that lap, fuel-heavy and on green tyres. Kobayashi had not yet made his stop, so he was light on fuel and using the ultra-durable Bridgestones. His pass on Button was a foregone conclusion, and the actual move at the hairpin was sloppy and very nearly took both of them out. I could have made that move stick, and yet people voted this as the best pass of the season.