Kobayashi says Sauber's strategy, not pace, helped him finish ninth

The Japanese driver made phenomenal progress on the opening lap as he jumped five places to 12th, giving him the platform to score his seventh top ten of the season.

Kobayashi insists his team were still struggling for pace at the Nurburgring however, and came through the field due to the stargety it adopted.

"The fact we have scored points is down to a very good pit stop strategy," Kobayashi said. "Our pace just wasn't good enough here.

"My start was good, and I was able to overtake both Williams during the race, but it was impossible to get Michael (Schumacher) - he was way too fast on the straights.

"However, I'm happy we managed to score after a bad qualifying, and I want to thank the team for an excellent job. I hope we will be performing better at the next race."

Kobayashi's team-mate Sergio Perez also made up places during the race, moving from 15th to 11th, but blamed himself for not matching Kamui and scoring points.

"I am not at all happy. Given our grid positions we knew it would be difficult to get some points today, but, as Kamui has shown, it was possible.

"I am angry with myself because I made a mistake on lap eight, which is why I had to pit early and change tyres. This obviously was not what was planned in the strategy.

"We recovered a bit from there, but not enough for points, which were my aim."