Sauber to retain Kobayashi and Perez
Thursday 28th July 2011
Sauber are to retain their young driver line-up for next season.
Although only 10 races into the current campaign, team principal Peter Sauber sees no reason to replace Japanese Kamui Kobayashi and Mexican rookie Sergio Perez.
Sauber said: "Kamui has grown into his role extremely well this year.
"Though it is only his second full F1 season, he is already taking on the responsibilities that naturally fall to the more experienced driver in the team.
"We are delighted with him at both a sporting and a personal level.
"We had an option of working with him in 2012 and there was never any doubt that we would take it.
"As for Sergio, he has achieved more than one could expect from a rookie.
"From the very first race he proved he is capable of driving not only fast but consistently as well.
"And after the accident in Monaco he demonstrated he can handle difficult situations too.
"From the outset we had already signed a contract with Sergio that went beyond 2011.
"With a rookie that always entails a certain risk, of course, but clearly it has paid off."
Kobayahsi, who has scored 27 points this year, has admitted to "pride" in being retained by the team.
"I want to thank Peter Sauber and (chief executive) Monisha Kaltenborn for putting their faith in me, and the guys for all their work," the 24-year-old added.
"Last year we had a very difficult season and some tough times, but we managed to overcome this because we are a strong team."
Despite the accident in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix that ruled him out of that race and the subsequent round in Canada, Perez has been consistently impressive.
The 21-year-old, who has eight points to his name, said: "Of course it is very good to have continuity and this way I can intensively prepare with my race engineer for what will be my second season.
"But for now I'm concentrating on finishing this season on a high."
Mexican reserve driver Esteban Gutierrez, who turns 20 at the end of next week, has also been retained.
Credit: ESPN STAR (www.espnstar.com)
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