I think the difference is that you see Petrov in the wall a lot more. I do think he deserves another chance, but F1 is cut throat. So I don't know if he will.

He's been in the wall once. In Belgium. Kobayashi went into the wall in Canada, yet no-one is questioning his ability. Petrov had a brain fart in Montreal - but Kobayashi had one in Budapest.

There is a clear difference in performance between the Sauber and Renault. It's a greater achievement to do so in a Sauber then in a Renault (which ended up 3th in the race).

And BTW that's the difference between an rookie starting in a "factory" team and a rookie in an private team. The pressure and expectations is much higher.

I think it's maybe more than once. But he's he's dropped it more. Anyway, they both deserve a second chance. Petrov has pace and sometimes a rookie will drop it. Plus Petrov has Kubica as his team mate, so comparison is going to be harder.

Sauber re-signs Kobayashi shock!.... NOT

FWIW I hope Vitali gets a second season too. I think he's done pretty well considering the limited mileage for rookies these days. And that was a nice pass in the last race too

Delighted Kobayashi has re-signed - and hopefully Sauber can deliver a competitive car for next season.

(And yes this is the Sauber thread, but agree with the above - I think Petrov deserves an F1 drive next year)

It's their team-mates and cars that make the difference. De la Rosa is totally different benchmark than Kubica, R30 is also way more comptetitive compared to C29 and with better equipment the expectations are much higher even for a rookie.

About why no one was interested in Kamui - maybe there was some interest from other teams but we didn't heard about it (although I doubt it, cause it's such a "poor" silly season, many top drivers signed before half of the season). The fact is that all of top drives are taken for next year, Williams are happy with their line up, there are many candidates for partnering Kubica next year and the only seat that could possibly be a step forward is in Force India. But Peter Sauber is well known for spoting young talents and I would be very suprised if he would let Kobayashi after only one year of driving.


KK will celebrate his birthday in one weeks time, it's a great gift from the team for him. I wonder if Petrov who's b-day is tomorrow will receive such present

I still think the Sauber is the best looking car on the grid, shape-wise.

Last year's BMW looked a dog with its snow plough looks. The Sauber looks like a long shark.

Esteban is the first GP3 champion and won it quite easily. Good move from Sauber that probably involves some future dollars from Carlos Slim's wallet. He is the best we have in Mexico right now IMO, his driving was very mature for a 19 year old.

You got to like Peter and his laid back Swiss style.

From today's press conference;

Peter SAUBER: It was more or less okay. I think it was difficult for both drivers. For Nick (Heidfeld) it was a new car, new tyres, and for Kamui (Kobayashi) a new track. I think it was okay.

Q. And they ended up twelve-hundredths apart.

PS: Yes, yes that's good.

Pedro (with his daugthers) send this photo to Sauber mechanics. This man is great!!!



(yesterday Sauber mechanics sent him a letter and a photo, all of them wearing PDLR t-shirt and next to nº22 C29)(lovely gestures)

Come back soon Pedro!!!!!! You deserve to be in F1 and F1 needs guys like you!!!

Awwww

Singapore, a weekend to forget for the whole team.
The good news is, it can only go up from here...

Next race should also suit car much better.

Sergio Perez joins Sauber in 2011:

http://www.blick.ch/sport/formel1/sergio-p...-cockpit-157852 (german)

edit:
now in english:
http://www.sauber-motorsport.com/Sauber-Mo...-111?newsid=476

Wonder what Heidfeld will do for next season now then.

So Peter just sacked De La Rosa to have info about next year tyres... classy move

Any team will get even better tyre info after the end of the season

Woot Telmex. Now Sauber surely got the opportunity to get the team solid in the midfield next year. Perez did very well in GP2 this year. Only had bad luck that Maldonado opted to stay another extra year (he should try to get the money which is going to the horrible Milka Duno).

Great news for everybody, except Heidfeld That will surely give some financial backing which was really needed for Sauber.

Slim finally reaching for his wallet. All the best for Sergio!

Yes . I'm very happy with this choice, Checo was best driver in GP2 in 2010 and very exciting one to watch . Additionaly Sauber gets huge sponsor, so it's perfect decision .

So that means we are gonna have "Telmex BMW Sauber Ferrari" next year.

Pretty sure the BMW won't be there in the name.

Nice. Hope this means a better livery next year. Something like:

fixed.

Of course I am joking! lol
Or should I have said that next year they will be "Telmex still BMW Sauber Ferrari"

Oh well this has came rather out of the blue. Good on Sauber for getting the Telemex money I guess and Perez has some decent form and it could go either way with him in F1, It'll be interesting to see what he can do against Kamui Kobayashi.

For Heidfeld its a shame for such a talented driver to lose out to a young one with money though I'm guessing he would have known the 2011 situation before taking on the Sauber drive this year. I wonder where this leaves him? Renault or Lotus maybe?

eh, considering how lotus have two 'midfielder' drivers and Heidfeld could be considered as one of them, thats unlikely. Gah bernie let more teams into F1...

Not in Renault, that' for sure. Lotus? I don't think so.

He tried.

Who knows really? Its sad for Heidfeld that his options look so limited again for next year. I think he deserves a place on the grid so we'll have to see.

good for Sergio now im torn i have always liked Williams but now with a mexican driver from my city Sauber must have a little place in my rooting. hell even my kids and wife hold a swiss passport.

Good for Sauber if they can get some money. PS broke his relations with RedBull basically over Liuzzi so I guess he's not that opposed to let others have a say on drivers.

As I understand Heidfeld is "just" there to be a Benchmark for Kobayashi since it's very hard to rate PDLR and Kobayashi.

The only thing that surprises me about this is the timing.

Sauber need a pay driver, so signing one of the fattest wallets on the periphery of F1 adds up.

But why announce now, just one week after Heidfelds Sauber "debut"? It wasn't a glorious one, but it's too early to say whether he brings more to the team in terms of pace than Koba.

Koba has two things on his side - youth, and appeal to the currently untapped Japanese market.

I hope for Nick's sake that there are changes afoot at Mercedes, because otherwise, it looks like retirement in a rather anti-climactic way. He seems to have been under-rated as an F1 driver.

Cool! Shades of the '05 Sauber too:

If Peter Sauber had any intention if retaining NH for 2011, he would have announced it at the same time his team announced that Heidfeld was coming in to do the last 5 races of the season. I think Sauber told Heidfeld what was in the works with Perez and Telmex. The writing was in the wall for the link up with the "Mexican connection"

We must now wait to see if Telmex is going to be the primary sponsor or not of the team as of next year. Anyone has any idea how much money was Telmex putting on Perez in GP2??

Exciting pairing for next year. Looking forward to it.

The Heidfeld move makes even less sense now

BTW. I don't remember where I read it, but Sauber should get another big sponsor for 2011 and Mad Croc is staying for another year.

Not sure about this.
It was certain that PDLR was gone anyway next year.
Peter said that the reason for bringing in Heidfeld is so he can get a good measure of the car.
He expected Nick to be more consistent (more laps to gather data) and provide relevant feedback to the team.
Nick was not surprised by the Sergio move. He congratulated Peter and the team.
Nick's job this year is to help set the future development path for the car, something that he may be better at than Pedro.

I need some help with something.

During the first pit stop under the first SC at Korea, it looked like Heidfeld was ahead of Kobayashi, and Kobayashi had to queue up behind Heidfeld because they both came into the pits together.

Did something happen to Heidfeld that caused him to lose the position again? I know both Saubers had a few incidents but I can't actually remember the moment when Kobayashi got past Heidfeld.. I'm sure I'm just being stupid!

Just checked the Forix lap chart, and it shows that Heidfeld overtook Kobayashi on the lap when they both pitted for intermediates. When the Webber-Rosberg safety car pulled in, Heidfeld dropped behind Kobayashi, Petrov and Buemi, and Kobayashi was passed by the latter two on the next lap (all on inters). I can't remember if this was due to incidents or just the Saubers being relatively slow in the wet conditions, but I think it was the latter.

I also have a question.
Will they give Heidfeld a new engine for Brazil?
I can't believe that they will run a 6th race with the same lump.

Thanks.

Maybe Heidfeld made a mistake? Or maybe he overtook under the SC and realised it and got back out of the way for Kobayashi to go through, so he wouldn't get a penalty? Because I don't remember seeing the moment when Kobayashi got past Heidfeld after they pitted.