Kamui Kobayashi: It hasn’t sunk in yet!

Kamui Kobayashi wowed his faithful supporters during the Japanese Grand Prix earlier today, as their hero stormed to his first career podium at his home Grand Prix around Suzuka. The 26-year-old driver stood his ground during the closing stages of the race, as he fended off the charging McLaren of Jenson Button.

After enduring a tough opening day of practice at Suzuka, Kamui Kobayashi set himself up perfectly for the 53-lap race during qualifying with a superlative lap in the closing stages of Q3. Although Kobayashi ended qualifying 4th overall, he was promoted to 3rd on the grid after Jenson Button took his five-place grid penalty.

At the start of the race, Kobayashi instantly overtook Mark Webber for 2nd as carnage ensued behind him. Although the Japanese driver lost out to the Ferrari of Felipe Massa after the first round of pitstops, he was able remain in 3rd position to claim his first podium finish of his F1 career, following in the footsteps of fellow countryman Aguri Suzuki and Takuma Sato.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet, it is hard to believe – I achieved my first podium in Suzuka!” Explained an elated Kamui Kobayashi, “It was a fantastic race and we have been working really hard to get to this point since we were lacking pace on Friday. But the Sauber F1 Team did a great job to recover from there. The team has built a great car this year. You can tell this from the podium finishes my team-mate [Sergio Perez] has had. At times I was close to that as well but I never had the luck. It means so much to me that it finally worked out. Maybe from now on things will be easier.”

Throughout the closing laps of the Japanese Grand Prix, Kamui Kobayashi’s 3rd place looked in danger of being snatched away from him by the charging McLaren of Jenson Button. The Briton was on fresher rubber than the Sauber driver, yet was unable to catch and overtake Kobayashi for the final podium position.

“My rear tyres where really bad in the end and I had a lot of oversteer.” Continued Kamui Kobayashi, “But regardless of this I had to push to defend my podium place. Only during the final lap did I allow myself to really think I can keep him behind me, because then the best overtaking opportunity at the end of the straight was over, and then I saw all the fans and the raised hands. It meant a lot to me and I want to thank the Japanese fans.”

Kamui Kobayashi’s future in Formula 1 still remains unconfirmed, with Sauber’s 2013 driver line-up being greatly speculated within the paddock. Some rumors suggest that GP2 driver Esteban Gutierrez could receive the drive, however with Kobayashi’s superb result this weekend, Sauber may well find themselves in a conundrum over who to select for next season.

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