Kamui Kobayashi: Caterham F1 seat not guaranteed for Japanese GP

Kamui Kobayashi does not know if he will retain the Caterham Formula 1 drive for his home grand prix next month

The Japanese driver sat out August's Belgian GP, with Andre Lotterer taking the drive before Kobayashi was given a late recall at Monza two weeks ago.

Although Formula Renault 3.5 frontrunner Roberto Merhi had been seeking a superlicence and was in the running for the drive after his Friday practice outing in Italy, Caterham confirmed on Wednesday that Kobayashi would be racing in Singapore.

Kobayashi's deal with the team remains on a race-by-race basis even though both he and the Suzuka promoters are keen for him to be on the grid.

"It is just for one race, until they confirm [any more]," Kobayashi told AUTOSPORT.

"I hope [to race at Suzuka] but it's not confirmed yet. I'm just going to do my job this week and we will see.

"I should have a contract until the end of the year but in F1, sometimes it doesn't work on contracts, which is not a surprise.

"I spoke [to the Japanese GP promoters] and they understand our situation, there is nothing we can do unfortunately."

Kobayashi does not believe that the risk of missing further races this season will harm his chances of remaining on the F1 grid next year.

"I have already shown enough of what I can do in the car, I have experience with the V6 turbo and I have enough experience to be ready for next year," he said.

"I'm never worried about performance as it's not because of performance that I lost my seat at Spa.

"I want to be in F1 still [next year] but I need to be realistic because economically F1 is getting really bad."