Zoom Heading for sixth position in Abu Dhabi

Kamui Kobayashi made quite an impression on his debut in Brazil last month and went one better on Sunday as he secured points at just his second attempt with Toyota at the Inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

While his future is not yet decided, the Japanese driver does not seem unduly concerned - and has one immediate plan he can fulfil.

“My first priority is to take a holiday,” he said. “For the past two years I have hardly had a day off with GP2, GP2 Asia and Formula One testing so I am really looking forward to a bit of a break to relax and recharge my batteries. After that, we'll see what happens.”

Toyota is scheduled sign off the budget for next season later this month and most believe that Kobayashi has now done enough to secure the seat.

“Sixth place was a fantastic result and better than I imagined at the start of the weekend, so I am very pleased with how things worked out,” he said. “Still, there is room for improvement and I have several areas to improve. Actually, I had the potential to finish even higher but I lost a little time in traffic; otherwise I could have been fighting for fourth because I was getting close at the end of the race.”

Kobayashi started the race by getting the jump on Kimi Raikkonen and later pressurised Jenson Button into a mistake to run third just ahead of his own pit stop. Racing drivers the calibre of Raikkonen and Button does not faze the Japanese rookie.

“I don't think about them as World Champions; they are just my rivals on the track like everyone else and my job is to get past them if I can,” he explained. “It's fun to battle on track, particularly when you can overtake, but I'm only thinking about my race position, not about what another driver has won or whatever...”

E.A. © CAPSIS International