BMW Sauber were again in the points at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Japanese driver, Kamui Kobayashi continued his good form with a great strategic race to finish 8th after qualifying in a poor 19th, but with other teams needing to fix their cars he started 17th on the grid.

Team-mate Pedro De La Rosa had a decent race after smashing out in qualifying and with the car being tweaked; he was 24th on the grid. Although the team’s strategy was good, he was unfortunate to have to slow down to make sure he finished and ended up a moderate 12th. Team Principal Peter Sauber enjoyed another professional drive from Kobayashi and had this to say after the race:

“It was another strong and mature performance by Kamui in very difficult conditions after starting from way down the grid. Also compliments to the team for choosing the right tyre strategy and executing it very well during the pit stops.”

Kobayashi has hit some kind of form in the second half of the season, finishing in the points in five of the last six races, and showing us all what he can do as well as why Sauber gambled on giving the young man a seat for the season.

The race was one that was a great spectacle with showers throughout, making this so called boring Formula One an exciting watch for spectators as their were incidents all over the track, this contributed to Kobayashi’s finish but that isn’t the only reason this young man is making a name for himself. The aggressive driving we had a glimpse of in the final few races last year, when he was at Toyota, has come back and no driver seems as hungry to gain places as Kamui, which comes with risks at times, as we saw in most of the early races when he attacked early, but was un-successful and crashed out.

After he picked up four more points, taking his tally to 21, he had this to say:

“It was a very difficult race, but for me everything worked out fine. The team made very good decisions in choosing the right tyres at the right time, and the pit stops went well. For parts of the race the track conditions were changing every lap, and that was not easy. Especially after qualifying, I am very happy I made no mistakes, brought the car home and scored four more points after starting the race 17th.”

As mentioned, De La Rosa didn’t have the best of Saturdays and again blew out in Q1 but after good team tactics and a sensible drive he bought the car home in a very modest 12th:

“It was a very interesting race. After I had to start last I should not complain about finishing 12th, but two laps before the end I was tenth and just in the points. I was on full wet tyres, the rain was not heavy enough and there was not enough water on the track to stop destroying those tyres. They went off quite quickly and when I tried to catch Vitaly Petrov I made a mistake. I went into the gravel and lost two places. Nevertheless for me it was the right move to go for full wet tyres.”

All in all it was another satisfying race day for Sauber, but the team will want to improve in qualifying to make race day one they can strategise for points and push for a better spot in the pit lane for 2011.

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