Sauber, Kamui Kobayashi: “I couldn't go anywhere but the accident was my mistake”

The Korean Grand Prix was not positive for Sauber, in fact the Swiss team did not take home any world championship points, with Sergio Perez finishing the race in eleventh place, while Kamui Kobayashi retired due to a technical problem after a disastrous start which saw him involved in an accident with Button and Rosberg. The Japanese pilot took responsibility for the accident.

Sergio Perez – eleventh: “It's a shame not to have scored any points today. My first stint was really good despite a bit of understeer which was caused by the small accident I had at the start which damaged the front of the car. However, our plan looked good and the strategy seemed to be working. Unfortunately we had a problem at the pit stop and were unable to recover. This was the moment we lost the race as I got back into traffic behind many cars, but despite this we were confident we could get at least a point. My car was fast, I overtook Paul (di Resta) and Lewis (Hamilton) had a problem with the artificial grass, I managed to catch him but I couldn't overtake him. I believe that today a sixth place would have been the perfect placement considering our potential."

Kamui Kobayashi – retired: “This is a race to forget. Initially I had a good start but I found myself with 3 cars alongside me trying to go into turn 3. I had Nico (Rosberg) on ​​the right and Jenson (Button) on the left and Sergio (Perez) behind him. Someone hit one of my rear tires and managing the car became impossible, so at a certain point I couldn't brake. I couldn't avoid the accident and I'm really sorry for ruining the others' race, it wasn't my intention. It was very difficult to manage that situation and I couldn't go anywhere but anyway it's still my mistake. I came back to fix the car but it had been seriously damaged, so after seventeen laps I retired."

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: “It was a disappointing race for us, after we had been able to consistently improve throughout the weekend. Kamui's race was ruined after a few corners, and Sergio was unlucky after the first pit stop where he lost time due to a pit system malfunction. It's a real shame because he drove a great race and lost the points by a couple of tenths of a second.”

Giampaolo Dall'Ara, head of track engineers: “After the start, both cars were damaged. Sergio had contact with a car and damaged the nose. Kamui's car was damaged at both the front and rear where a puncture destroyed the bottom. We weren't sure if the car was still safe to drive but we decided to give it a try. Sergio was great in the first stint and gained a lot on Michael (Schumacher), so he should have come in ahead of a group of four cars. However, we had a problem with the traffic light system with the green light which didn't work and we need to understand why, as we lost those four seconds which put us back on the track behind the other cars, and it was a hard blow as he couldn't overtake them. Without these problems I think eighth place would have been easy to achieve."