F1: Kobayashi Delights Home Crowd With First Podium

Formula 1

F1: Kobayashi Delights Home Crowd With First Podium

Sauber driver fought off challenge from Jenson Button to secure third...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted October 07, 2012 Suzuka (JPN)

Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi thrilled his home crowd with a third-place finish in the Japanese GP. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Kamui Kobayashi finally secured his first F1 podium in the perfect style with a fighting performance on home ground at Suzuka.

The Sauber driver passed Mark Webber for second at the start, but later lost the place to Felipe Massa after the first pit stops. He then held off Jenson Button to secure third, to the delight of the local crowd.
While Sergio Perez has earned three podiums this year by fighting through the field on strategy, this one was earned with pure performance.

“Well, it was a fantastic race,” said Kobayashi. “We were really working hard to get the podium, and you know my team mate has a couple of podiums already but myself, I had a couple of chances in qualifying, I mean I had a good position to start, but always I never had luck.

“But this time, maybe it was good to start third, it’s no front row but the feeling was good because we had a long run on Friday and that was, I think pretty good pace and we had good confidence for the rest of the week. I think, when I gained position to second after the start, I was pretty sure to be on the podium.”

Kobayashi came under huge pressure from Button in the closing stages.

“At some point I think we really struggle a lot to hold Jenson. Especially the last stint was really tough because I change quite early for hard compound tires but I think Jenson change, I think, a couple of laps later and I think that’s what’s really challenging for us. But if we want to hold Jenson we have to do it. And finally we need to manage tires, in the last couple of laps.”

Kobayashi was impressed by the reaction: “Especially in my home Grand Prix, my first podium, that’s amazing. Before the race I was joking: a couple of times I have a chance to get podium but I have bad luck and I couldn’t get it. But maybe I get this race in podium, maybe it’s something in destiny. So I’m very happy for the fans. There’s so many people supporting us. When we look there is so much crowd around the circuit, and that’s amazing.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.

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