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Kamui Kobayashi not dreaming of Chinese GP win as Sauber excels again

Kamui Kobayashi insists that he is not dreaming of fighting for victory in the Chinese Grand Prix, and says his goal remains to score as many points as possible

Coming off the back of his Sauber team-mate Sergio Perez's near-win in Malaysia, Kobayashi qualified in a strong fourth position at Shanghai, but will start from third due to a grid penalty for Lewis Hamilton - picked up following a gearbox change.

The Japanese driver admitted he was delighted with the result, but insisted he is staying realistic for the race.

"I am very happy, the team did a great job," said Kobayashi. "For quite a while we have kept saying we need to improve our qualifying performance, and I think this was a clear improvement today.

"Apparently I will be starting from third position tomorrow because Lewis Hamilton had to change his gearbox. This grid position obviously means a lot of chances. However, I am not a dreamer and the target remains the same: score as many points as you can.

"We have a strong car, normally it is also good on tyres and I am looking forward to the race full of confidence."

Perez will also start the race in the top ten, having secured eighth position, and the Mexican said he was hoping for a better result.

"It is obviously a good qualifying result for our team," he said. "Personally I must admit I even hoped for more than P8. After the previous runs had been very promising, on the final lap in Q3, when I was on a fresh set of soft tyres, I suddenly had understeer.

"I don't know where this came from. In any case it will be a tough race tomorrow and I will give it my best."

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