F1: Kobayashi Confirmed At Sauber For 2011

Formula 1

F1: Kobayashi Confirmed At Sauber For 2011

Team Sauber confirmed Kamui Kobayashi will stay in 2011 after a strong second half of the season...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted September 07, 2010 Balen (BEL)

Kamui Kobayashi hails from Japan. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

One more question mark over the 2011 season was addressed when Sauber confirmed today that Kamui Kobayashi will stay in 2011 after a strong second half of the season.

The Japanese driver struggled with reliability problems and first lap incidents earlier in the year, but has been in the points in five of the past seven races, with a best of sixth in Valencia.

Peter Sauber said in a statement that he'd never had any doubt: “We enjoy having our rookie as part of the team – both as a driver and a person. We never had any doubts about working with him again in 2011. Kamui has definitely fulfilled our expectations in terms of his speed and fighting spirit. Plus, his work with the engineers and his technical understanding has also developed very well. The experience he has built up over his first full season in Formula One will certainly stand him in good stead for 2011. And our aim is to give him a fast and reliable car from the outset next season.”

Kobayashi said: “We had a very difficult start to the season, but we’ve worked together to pull ourselves out of that situation. I feel very much at home in Peter Sauber’s team and am very pleased we’ll be working together again in 2011. However, for now I’m focusing 100 per cent on this year. There are still six Grand Prix weekends to go in 2010, and we’ll be hoping to make up more ground.”

Pedro de la Rosa's future remains in doubt, the team saying only that the "second driver for the 2011 season will be announced at a later date." It remains to be seen whether Telmex confirms a new partnership with the Swiss outfit, in which case Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez look likely to have roles.

The other attractive seats that have yet to be confirmed are at Force India and Renault.

Adam Cooper notched up his 25th season as a racing journalist in 2009. Born in London, England, he saw his first F1 race at age 10 in 1976. He began freelancing for Autosport magazine in 1985 and was on the fulltime staff from 1987-92. He then went freelance again, initially spending two years in Japan before following the 1994 Champcar series from a base in Indianapolis. He has not missed a Grand Prix since Suzuka ‘94, a run that has extended to Abu Dhabi ’09. Adam has written books about Eddie Irvine, Piers Courage and Michael Schumacher and hosts a race preview show on Sirius XM. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Check out Adam's Blog or follow him on Twitter