SILVERSTONE, United Kingdom (AFP) ? Japanese Kamui Kobayashi impressed his admirers and critics again on Saturday when he qualified eighth in his Sauber for the British Grand Prix and revealed he has yet to sign a deal for next year.
The 24-year-old daredevil, who has built up a reputation as one of the fastest, boldest and most-improved drivers in the pit lane, recovered from a crash during rain-hit practice on Friday to deliver one of the best laps in an unpredictable qualifying session.
"It was a tricky session with constantly changing conditions and extremely difficult to predict what would be right and what would be wrong, but we have handled this quite well," said Kobayashi.
"In Q1, I struggled a bit because I wasn't used to the car's balance on the hard tyres, and didn't have a chance to do a lap on the soft compound because the rain set in.
"In Q2, the track conditions were still tricky and damp, but in Q3, when I did my final lap on fresh soft tyres, everything worked out the way it should do.
"So, I am happy with this lap and I am especially thankful to my team because, due to their hard work, we recovered from what happened on Friday morning. Now I want to make the most of all this in tomorrow's race."
Praised by the BBC television pundit and former racer Briton Martin Brundle as "truly emerging as a world-class driver", Kobayashi now looks likely to become Japan's most successful F1 racing driver.
He has been with the Sauber team since 2010 and has made steady progress, but is not certain to stay next year and could be on open to offers from a top team.
Asked about his future, he said: "Sauber is a good place to learn F1 -- it's a private team and if something is not going well then Peter Sauber talks to me and I have to improve.
"It's a good experience. But I still have more than nine races (to go) and it is too early to say (what I am to do). Red Bull and McLaren are top teams, but I don't think they have any space."
His self-effacing style and bright sense of humour have endeared him to many in the paddock and, allied to his spectacular driving style, made him alongside Lewis Hamilton the most popular driver for the fans.
The pair are regarded as the boldest overtaking drivers on the grid and, depending on the final machinations of the driver market ahead of 2012, it remains possible that they could even be paired at McLaren next season.
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