The real reason Kobayashi will not return to F1

[zako85]

I heard that the Caterham contract is contingent on Kobayashi quitting smoking and accepting his salary in dogecoin mined on employees' laptops.

[Big Ben]

it's the changes of the regulations for next year with the size of the drivers being even a bigger deal now... d-uh. He smokes so he wouldn't grow anymore

[steveaki13]

I would like to see Kobayashi back. Hell at least a Caterham seat puts him on the grid.

Plus I am sure Kamui can cause all sorts of chaos from there.

[Rollo]

I heard that the Caterham contract is contingent on Kobayashi quitting smoking and accepting his salary in dogecoin mined on employees' laptops.

Such Hack. Many Dogecoin. Very Disappear. So Gone. Such shining. So crypto. Very Currency. Wow.

[Roamy]

It's just hogwash. James Hunt was lauded for being a smoking, drinking, women-shaggin' son-of-a-bitch. Keke smoked like a furnace. Kimi regularly gets shitfaced, so effing what? The reason why Koba isn't in F1 is that a) he doesn't bring enough money and b) he isn't good enough - the end.

this is the correct post !!

[longisland]

I think koba is good enough but he just doesn't have enough dogecoins. He's on par with Massa & Sutil in my form book & safe to say better than Heikki. The problem is even he gets a Caterham drive, he will be racing only his team mate & the Marussias. There will be no tv coverage unless the car's on fire. Maybe the FIA should introduce the normally aspirated class as they did in the 80s.

I'd rather see him in DTM. There's still disparity just like Formula 1 but I believe Koba may secure a decent drive in a mid field team with less funding.

[rjbetty]

I think Kobayashi's good too, but I think he's very overrated too. I don't see how he's better than Heikki, just because Kovalainen isn't the best in the world himself.

I'm not sure he's quite on almost title-winner Massa's level, or even Sutil's just yet, but I put him close to that. Kamui has less experience, so more scope to improve and overtake these twos' current form.

I admit I don't really like this perception that being a 'spectacular' driver seems to gain them about 0.3sec per lap. It was the same with Montoya, lauded to the skies as better than Schumacher, similar to Senna etc. If you look at the simple facts though, and 5.5 years is enough of a sample, he was very good, but not great. Certainly not on the level of Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso and Raikkonen. I'd say Button/Webber/Massa level really.

The fact is, he wasn't quite as good as Perez. Consider Sergio's Melbourne race, Malaysia, Spain, Canada, Britain, Monza in particular. His highlights were higher than Kobayashi's which says a lot. Also, Sergio did this on less experience and being younger. And if Sergio was slightly underwhelming at McLaren, why does Kobayashi deserve a Ferrari seat (AHEAD OF HULKENBERG for crying out loud), as so many people believe?

It was also the same for Nigel Mansell, proclaimed to be "the best driver in the world" - and this was when Senna and Prost were still around!!

[longisland]

Congrats to Koba! I still maintained that it would be better off for the fans if he's in a competitive car in DTM rather than driving an off-pace Caterham in F1.

[rjbetty]

Congrats to Koba! I still maintained that it would be better off for the fans if he's in a competitive car in DTM rather than driving an off-pace Caterham in F1.

Ah, so, he is not getting the Caterham drive now?

[Tazio]

rj I don'tthink I ned to remind you that kamui is a poor mans Montoya!