Sauber can still fight Mercedes for fifth place in the constructors' championship even if the German car maker takes a step forward at this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix, according to Kamui Kobayashi.
Mercedes is currently ahead of Sauber by 26 points with seven races to go, and the team is upbeat about its upgrade package for this weekend which includes a new exhaust configuration. But Kobayashi, who recently qualified on the front row for the Belgian Grand Prix, said Sauber never expected to be strong at Singapore and that the Swiss-built C31 performs better on more traditional tracks.
"No, I'm not worried," he said about the Mercedes upgrade. "Maybe we'll have a bigger chance [in future races]. We don't know, but maybe we'll have a better chance.
"Singapore is maybe not our favorite, but after this race, at Suzuka our car could be very strong. In the past I think we were not really fantastic at this circuit [Singapore], but I think for this year should be OJK."