[F1] Kamui Koayashi

I wont be shy about it, Kamui is my opinion is easily the best of the new drivers giving us surprise after surprise. Although he started the year with 4 straight DNF's and began to give doubt to Saubers decision to sign him after his brilliant debut for Toyota (stepping in for the injured Timo Glock in 2009). He then came back for several top 10 finishes including a very surprising 6th at Silverstone. He has also sneaked into Q3 three times this year although never able to qualify higher then tenth. The young Japanese driver has a 2010 average finishing grid position of 9th, higher then a certain seven time world champion this year.

In his recent interviews he has leaned the importance of just being consistent and making sure to finish races. I think Sauber was struggling with some issues with the car early in the year and some of his credited accident DNF's may have been results of that. But in spite of those and specifically a front wing mishap that was very much nothing he could control that took him out of the race he commented upon asking if the cars front wing failed "I will have to look at that data." Obviously to the driver it was a very clear failure but the driver was not about to toss the blame on the team and make them look bad.

Another thing this young Japanese driver has done that his older experienced (ex) teammate has not managed to do, is show that he can take care of the car and his engine. The reliability of the Ferrari engine has been a huge talking point of the season and with only four races remaining, Kamui still has two unused engines.

It also bears mentioning his up bringing in Japan and where he would have likely been if not in F1 this year. Many drivers would have gone to lower series of racing or become a backup driver for another team but Kamui, well he most likely would have ended up back home helping out in his fathers sushi shop. Kamui best explains his experiences growing up in Japan carting himself here in an article on F1 Fanatic (my personal fav F1 website).

His results and his speed speaks for itself and he has learned he needed to prove consistency after a rough start to the season. With new sponsors coming to the team in 2011 I really hope good things for the Japanese driver and also a good showing at his home grand prix this weekend. I make no effort to hide the fact that Kamui Koayashi is one of my personal favorite drivers in the sport right now and my favorite among the young guns in the sport.