Glock out, Koba in

[CarlosFerreira]

Kamui Kobayashi will deputise for Timo Glock at Toyota in the Brazilian Grand Prix after it was revealed that Glock sustained a cracked vertebrae in his Suzuka accident.
...
But today Toyota announced that further medical checks in Germany have revealed the injury to his back as well. This will prevent Glock from racing in Brazil, and team boss John Howett admitted that he was also in doubt for the season closing Abu Dhabi GP a fortnight later.

Glad to see Koba back at the wheel, but definitely not the scenario I was looking forward to.

Speedy recovery to Glock, let's hope we haven't seen the last of him in F1.

[Ed24]

Very disappointing for Glock, and I hope he recovers soon, but great - especially from the perspective of this site - to see another potential F1 Reject get a go, especially after the disappointment of him not racing in Japan.

[shinji]

Looking forward to the next podcast already - Kah-moo-ee Koe-bai-ash-ee siad in exultant and enthusiastic Japanese accents.

[Nuppiz]

This has been a weird, weird season...

I like it when new drivers get a chance in F1, but not in this way.

[Yannick]

Here is wishing all the best to Glock for a quick and full recovery. See you next season, hopefully with Toyota as well.

Now Suzuka needs to put another 2 or 3 rows of tyres in front of the wall in that corner.

All the best to Kobayashi-san for his debut race.

[Salamander]

Here is wishing all the best to Glock for a quick and full recovery. See you next season, hopefully with Toyota as well.

Hopefully not, IMO Glock deserves a better car than what Toyota can give him.

Hoping for a speedy recovery nonetheless, and all the best to him and Kobayashi.

[Nin13]

Its the deadly kobayashi fever yet again??

[shinji]

Its the deadly kobayashi fever yet again??

Excuse me?

[Nin13]

Here is Kamui demonstrating his F1 Rejects talent-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtWqdyLkUgE

[Nin13]

Its the deadly kobayashi fever yet again??

Excuse me?

During Japanese GP Friday Press Conference-
Q: (Ralf Bach - R & B) Two questions for Mr Howett. First I read that you are also in touch with Kimi Raikkonen?
JH: Not with Kimi, but with his management, yes.

Q: (Ralf Bach - R & B) Second question. What is the illness of Timo? Is it Kobayashi fever?
JH: I just won’t answer. It is a stupid question and it doesn’t deserve an answer.

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/ ... 10030.html

Remember Timo had not driven on Friday due to some fever and Kobasyashi had replaced him!!

[Valrys]

Here is Kamui demonstrating his F1 Rejects talent-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtWqdyLkUgE

Awesome, I haven't seen anyone manage to do that before

[watka]

I'm going to stick my neck out and say that Kamui will do better than Kazuki at Brazil.

[shinji]

I'm going to stick my neck out and say that Kamui will do better than Kazuki at Brazil.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamui_Kobayashi#Statistics

16th in two seasons of GP2?

He's going to be in Badoer territory. Especially considering Nakajima was 6th in his one GP2 season.

I think you can disregard the Asia Series, the main drivers didn't take it particularly seriously.

[Paul Hayes]

Glock's probably better off staying away from the Brazilian crowd anyway, after last year!

[RejectSteve]

Glock's probably better off staying away from the Brazilian crowd anyway, after last year!

Conspiracy theorists, you know what to do.

[Henrique]

Glock's probably better off staying away from the Brazilian crowd anyway, after last year!

Approved

[Ben Gilbert]

I'm going to stick my neck out and say that Kamui will do better than Kazuki at Brazil.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamui_Kobayashi#Statistics

16th in two seasons of GP2?

He's going to be in Badoer territory. Especially considering Nakajima was 6th in his one GP2 season.

I think you can disregard the Asia Series, the main drivers didn't take it particularly seriously.

Lower categories are never a truly good indicator of how a driver will fare in F1.

Take Piquet, Jr. In 2006, he came second in GP2, while a certain Lewis Hamilton pipped him to the title by 12 points. Look at where they are three years later.

That said, the only driver that I know of that did respectably well in F1 after doing virtually nothing in the lower levels is HWNSNBM.

(EDIT) By 'Luca Badoer territory' you're inviting the idea that Kamui will become a legend in reject circles, who we will long to see do well enough to have their profile taken down, only to be cruelly denied time, and time again.

[jackanderton]

But does that mean that Piquet. Jr would've done a decent job with similar kit to Lewis? Piquet. Jr spent a couple of unhappy seasons playing second fiddle to a recent ex-world champ in a team that couldn't have cared less about him.

(I bet he'd probably be a slightly more error-prone version of Kovalainen basically)

[Ben Gilbert]

But does that mean that Piquet. Jr would've done a decent job with similar kit to Lewis? Piquet. Jr spent a couple of unhappy seasons playing second fiddle to a recent ex-world champ in a team that couldn't have cared less about him.

(I bet he'd probably be a slightly more error-prone version of Kovalainen basically)

In a similar vein, he raced for Piquet Motorsports in GP2, so it proves that team choice and athmosphere works both ways. Besides, Piquet had his chance at Renault, did nearly stuff all when the team did listen to his and was suitably blanked for the rest of his term.

Your right though with his level of ability being comparable to Kavalainen, though.

[AutoRacer5]

Is he related to that Japanese guy that won the Nathan's hot dog eating contest all those years?

[shinji]

Is he related to that Japanese guy that won the Nathan's hot dog eating contest all those years?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4BU2pOLvxA&feature=related

"The best athlete in any sport"

[CarlosFerreira]

Is he related to that Japanese guy that won the Nathan's hot dog eating contest all those years?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4BU2pOLvxA&feature=related

"The best athlete in any sport"

Is this an Internet joke, or the real thing? Jeez!!

[fjackdaw]

I'm still picturing Pete Postlethwaite's character from Usual Suspects.

[FullMetalJack]

We can welcome another name to the list of disappointing Japanese drivers.

Sato is an exception.