When he started work there, after a short gardening leave, he helped to stabilise the Swiss team after a start to the season riddled with reliability and performance problems. Sauber was struggling to adjust from being a manufacturer backed team under BMW to being a privateer again.

In both the last two seasons Sauber scored 44 points, which put them eighth in 2010 and seventh last season. Key, like his mentor Mike Gascoyne, is good at getting plenty of “bang for a buck”, as the saying goes, getting good results on modest resources in other words.

“I’ve enjoyed the past two years working at the Sauber F1 Team,” said Key in a statement. “It has been a very intense and interesting time, in which we had to manage the transition from a much larger team to a smaller one, and everybody handled that very well.

“I think the team is now well set for the future and I wish it the very best. I have been offered a new role back in the UK, which I decided to accept.”

Team boss Peter Sauber said that Key had played an important role in the restructuring of the team. But one of the drivers Sergio Perez, showed his true feelings, lamenting the departure a few days before the new car is unveiled and testing begins.

The Mexican posted on Twitter: “James Key’s exit from the team comes at the worst moment, but we have a great team and we will push forward. There’s a great year ahead.”

Sauber will now move to a new structure where the heads of the aerodynamics, design, performance and operations divisions will take responsibility for managing the technical development of the new Sauber car.

Key speaks of a “new role” and it’s interesting that several technical directors have moved teams recently, taking up other roles within organisations: Aldo Costa left Ferrari to report to the technical director of Mercedes; Sam Michael quit Williams to become Sporting Director of McLaren.

Key’s destination is not clear at present but there are several contenders in the UK: Mercedes are taking a wider view and there may be a role there; he worked with Gascoyne at Jordan/Force India and Caterham has been hiring some big names lately, while Marussia Virgin has moved to new premises in Banbury and is building up its capabilities as a constructor, after the failed outsourcing experiment with Wirth Research. Williams is also restructuring its technical department with many new names coming in.

I’ll put my hands up and admit I love Kobayashi as a racer, he’s top quality entertainment and I love his spirit in a car, which reminds me a little bit of Jean Alesi.

Alesi made a big impression in a midfield Tyrrell car and ended up in a Ferrari, something which many fans would like to see happen with Kobayashi. It would be an amazing thing, and would align with Stefano Domenicali’s recent statement that for the future they would be looking to put a young driver alongside the experienced Fernando Alonso, who is tied to the team for five years. This is what they did with Felipe Massa, also a former Sauber driver, whom they placed alongside Michael Schumacher in 2006.

Sauber has been an important proving ground for Ferrari over the years, they take a supply of their engines and Ferrari is able to keep close tabs on the drivers’ performance. Sergio Perez is highly rated at Maranello; he was briefly, a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy before he signed his Sauber contract.

So they will be able to monitor Kobayashi in comparison with Perez and there’s a fair chance that one of them might end up in the Scuderia. Sadly, one just can’t quite imagine them taking a gamble on the Japanese driver.

As one of the world’s leading markets for luxury brands, Japan is important; it’s Ferrari’s number two market after the United States and the company opened its own office there in 2008. But it’s the strategic importance of Ferrari’s sponsors which counts for more, companies like Santander and Shell. Brazil is a critical market for both and this hasn’t done Massa any harm in recent years.

Then from the point of view of F1′s bigger picture, the sport has been in decline in Japan in recent years and could do with a shot of adrenaline, which the first Japanese driver in a top car would bring.

But above all those considerations, what a top team is looking for is speed and this is where the question mark lies with Kobayashi. He’s proved he can score points consistently and come through the field, which requires speed and racecraft.

Qualifying is an area where Kobayashi himself admits quite openly that he needs to do better if he is to get the chance to progress his career with a top team. He’s been outqualified five times by Perez, who is a rookie and although he’s had some good Saturdays, like Silverstone where he qualified 8th and Malaysia where he was 10th on the grid, he’s not been consistent or fast enough this year.

Kobayashi: Has he got the speed? (Darren Heath)

I asked him whether he can see specifically where he can improve as a qualifier, or whether he is perhaps a tenth or two too slow. His answer was surprisingly candid,
“I know that there aren’t enough strong performances in qualifying,” he said. “The thing is, when the car is good, I’m always okay. But if the car isn’t comfortable then I’m not using the whole performance. This is where I have to improve. It’s everything; confidence, warm up, balance and set up. Then I cannot make a good performance.”

Admitting a weakness is quite rare in a racing driver, even if it’s obvious to observers. But Kobayashi knows that an inability to drive around an imbalance could be the difference between him being a good driver and a great driver and that is why he says he is focussing most of his attention on it at the moment. He believes that it is something that can be learned.

To watch him on a Sunday, ripping through the field from 12th to 5th, like Monaco or 14th to 10th, as he did in Spain, (results which were not achieved by saving sets of new tyres) he clearly has the talent.

All eyes will be on Kobayashi over the remainder of this season and the first half of next. If he can show that the speed is there, he might just get that dream move up the grid.

He’s outqualified his team mate Kamui Kobayashi on five occasions of the nine that they have been racing together this season, he’s scored points in two races and in only two of his races has he finished lower than the position he started in. Those are pretty reasonable figures for a rookie in F1, but he will want to move forward from there and score more consistent points finishes in the second half of the season. Force India has improved a lot lately and are only nine points behind in the Constructors’ Table. Sauber could do with a step forward in the coming races to stay on terms.

Perez started the season with a top ten finish, only to be disqualified for a bodywork irregularity, but that first race in Australia signalled his and Sauber’s intent as far as race strategy is concerned. The car is gentle on its tyres and this gives them a tactical advantage, allowing them to run different strategies from the midfield cars around them, usually based on long stints in the middle of the race. It’s been very effective and well thought through by James Key and his technical team at Sauber, who have really made the most of strategy planning for this season with the peculiarities of the Pirelli tyres.

The result is that with a car which has qualified in the top ten on only four occasions this season they have come through to score points on nine occasions, amassing 35 points to put them 6th in the constructors’ table.

Perez had been in a good rhythm, outqualifying team mate Kobayashi for the three consecutive races before his serious accident in Monaco, which sidelined him for two races,
“Unfortunately my accident didn’t help at all because I lost some momentum and to get back in the rhythm as a racing driver was difficult after such a big impact with the head,” said the Mexican, when I spoke to him at the recent Hungarian Grand Prix.

Team boss Peter Sauber was very impressed with the way that Perez, as a rookie, dealt with the accident and his comeback from it. He did a solid job to finish 11th in Valencia, his first race back and then had a storming drive to seventh at Silverstone.

“It was a very big accident, could have ended my career there,” said Perez. “I missed two races where the team scored points (Monaco and Montreal), circuits which suited us quite well. I lost some points and some rhythm.”

With a contract in his pocket for 2012, Perez says that he can concentrate on improving many details in the second half of the season, like communication with the team and trying to get the maximum out of all three parts of the race weekend; practice, qualifying and race. One of the tough things to get right as a rookie is putting a complete race weekend together, as Petrov showed last year and Di Resta is showing this year to a lesser extent.

“I think I’ll be a lot stronger next season, not only on the track but off the track too, ” said Perez. “When you come into F1 it’s a different world and as a young driver it takes time to adapt. You have a lot to deal with, F1 is a lot more of everything.”

It’s a logical decision and one made with Sauber on the front foot, as the Mexican connection with telecoms billionaire Carlos Slim has brought financial stability to one of F1′s most efficiently run teams. But they’ve got more than a pay driver in Perez;

“Sergio has achieved more than one could expect from a rookie,” said Sauber. “From the very first race he proved that he is capable of driving not only fast but consistently as well. And after the accident in Monaco he demonstrated that he can handle difficult situations too.”

Perez was signed on a contract which took in 2012 anyway, which was a risk on a rookie, but one that Sauber felt confident in taking. Perez came to him well prepared, not just from his GP2 season in 2010, but also by Ferrari’s young driver programme, the FDA. I thought he had done some F1 testing with them, but when I asked him today he said he never got a chance because he started with Sauber soon after joining the FDA. Still, friends at Ferrari tell me his data looked very good, so he’s on their radar.

As for Kobayashi, he’s a real fans’ favourite – although not as much in Japan as overseas, I’m told – and his racecraft and boldness on a Sunday are one of the highlights of F1. He’s not the strongest qualifier in F1, which could ultimately hold him back from achieving great results, but he’s fantastic at coming through the field and working to the strategy the team gives him.

For the moment, this is the right pairing for Sauber, hence the simple decision to keep them.

The Sauber is the most gentle car on its tyres, which has really helped them to score 35 points so far this season, putting them sixth ahead of Force India, Toro Rosso and Williams. But as Pirelli start to move towards harder compound tyres which are closer together on performance to make the strategies more interesting on Sundays, this might hurt Sauber’s competitiveness. Now more teams will be able to do the long stints that have been the platform for their results. It’s up to Sauber to react to that.

Reserve driver Estaban Guttierez, also from Mexico, is retained in a similar role for 2012.

Fans wanted to know all about the pair’s prowess at overtaking and the two drivers did not disappoint.

“What does it feel like to actually pull off a fantastic overtaking manoeuvre?”, Hamilton was asked.

His reply: “It’s exhilarating. It’s probably the most exciting part of the race, when you’re not too fast compared to the guy in front. You’re just creeping up on him and looking to see where he’s weaker so that you can attack next time around.

“There’s a real science to it; I love it. Every person you catch you want to overtake immediately, but you learn how easy or difficult they are to overtake, so you have loads of things to weigh up. It’s massively, massively rewarding when do eventually get past someone. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard me, but I get really pumped up. I’m immediately on the radio and asking who I can attack next, I want to have that feeling again.”

You can listen to all of the audio from this afternoon’s FOTA Fans’ Forum discussion involving Lewis Hamilton and Kamui Kobayashi on the SoundCloud link above.

Predictably, fans’ questions largely revolved around their prowess in overtaking. Although one fan asked Hamilton what question he would ask Ayrton Senna if he had the chance.

“I’d ask him how he managed to qualify a second ahead of the rest in Monaco that time,” said Hamilton.

Both drivers agreed that of the three aids to overtaking in F1 today, KERS tyres and DRS, the latter is the most powerful and interesting.

“I love the new tyres, Pirelli have done and amazing job,” said Hamilton. “The DRS is probably the most unique part. It makes it easier to get closer to people. The DRS gives you the opportunity to catch them up and overtake, so that’s been cool. Before we had it it was very difficult to overtake. What we’re trying to achieve with it is to put drivers in a position where they are able to make the manoeuvre. Of course there are some opportunities when you can breeze past someone before you get to the braking zone. I passed Michael last weekend and it was able to move back onto the racing line, so it was way too easy. I watched the replay and Eddie Jordan said it was a special move. Just shows what he knows about it!”

Kobayashi agreed. “DRS is a cool system. At the start of the season we were worried because it’s a new system and we didn’t know if it’s safe. After a couple of races we see that it’s unique. Psychologically it’s important because it’s not just for overtakes, some times we need to use it well, like when you catch a backmarker.”

A straw poll of fans earlier in the Forum, during the team principals section, showed that the majority of fans were prepared to give the DRS a chance and didn’t find it artificial. Around a quarter of the 300 people present said they found it made overtaking ‘too easy’.

There was also an interesting question at the end about the point of view of the onboard cameras and how different it is from what the driver sees. Hamilton suggested that a camera on each side of the driver’s helmet would be a good thing. “The view is completely different,” he said. “It would be cool if you guys could see what we can see.”

You can download lots of photos free from the event by clicking here PHOTOLINK

Carlos Slim, whose Telmex company is a global telecoms giant, has come on board as a partner of the Sauber team and will have “significant” branding on the car. Telmex will fund the drive of 20 year old Mexican Sergio Perez in the team next year. The GP2 star will partner Kamui Kobayashi in an exciting, if inexperienced line up. They also have 19 year old GP3 star Estaban Gutierrez as test and development driver.

One would imagine that both will get a chance to have their first F1 runs in the tests after Abu Dhabi next month, Gutierrez in the Young Guns test and Perez in the Pirelli test.

The move means that once again Nick Heidfeld is left looking for a ride. The German was drafted in by Sauber for the final five races of the season in place of Pedro de la Rosa. One would imagine that Sauber will want his experience and technical savvy on the 2011 car, but the rookies will need as many laps of winter testing as possible.

Perez has been part of the “Escuderia Telmex”, which is a young driver programme funded by Telmex and overseen by former IndyCar ace Adrian Fernandez, for several years. He finished runner up to Pastor Maldonado in this year’s GP2 Series, winning four races, including Monaco.

Sauber has been pursuing Slim and Telmex for some time. Slim and his son Carlos Jr came to Silverstone this year. Slim is a friend of three times world champion Sir Jackie Stewart, whose Royal Bank of Scotland deal comes to an end this year as the bank pulls out of F1. It will be interesting to see whether he becomes a spokesman for Telmex next year.

Meanwhile the influx of Mexican interest in F1 will be very good news for the organisers of the new US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, just over 300 miles from the border with Mexico.

Peter Sauber has a bit of a conflict to deal with this weekend as Carlos Jr is getting married in Mexico, but it is also the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka.

Slim is 70 years old and has amassed a fortune of over $50 billion from telecoms. This year he overtook Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the world’s richest man. He is also the world’s foremost collector of paintings by the French impressionist artist Renoir.

He also holds a significant stake in the New York Times. He is a philanthropist, but once said that, “Wealth is like an orchard. You have to share the fruit, not the trees.”

After sticking to his course, Sauber has managed to pick some low hanging fruit. Time will tell whether Slim will buy the tree as well.

A statement issued by the FIA this evening said, “The FIA has written to inform BMW Sauber AG that their application for an entry in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship has been successful.”

“Subject to their signing the Concorde Agreement, BMW Sauber will be awarded the 13th entry in the Championship, taking the place of the departing Toyota team.

“The FIA has worked closely with the Commercial Rights Holder and the teams involved over recent weeks and is grateful for their support in achieving the best outcome for the sport.”

The entry was in some doubt when mysterious Arab/Swiss financier Qadbak was in the frame to take over as there was significant suspicion all around about the investment company, despite BMW having done due diligence on them.

But last week BMW withdrew from that deal and Peter Sauber bought back his old team and this led to the FIA brokering a deal whereby Toyota drops its claim on the 13th grid slot and all attempts to lease the factory and facilities to a new outfit. Presumably in return it is allowed to exit its obligations under the Concorde Agreement without financial penalty.

Perhaps all the talk of Stefan GP taking over the team was a bargaining chip in this protracted negotiation.

It is the right decision for the sport as Sauber has an unblemished track record stretching back to 1993. His is a reliable team which will make up the numbers on the grid. It also offers drivers
two more competitive drives in established teams along with the one at Brawn, one at Renault and one at Toro Rosso.

It will be interesting to see whether Sauber maintains its long relationship with Malaysian oil company Petronas, a key sponsor for many years, now that Malaysia has its own F1 team with state backing; Lotus. Perhaps they will both end up with some Petronas backing to start with.

A deal has already been agreed with Ferrari for a supply of engines. I would not be at all surprised to see the new Ferrari junior team driver Jules Bianchi taking a seat there in 2011 after a season in GP2.

The contract is subject to the team being granted a place on the F1 grid, but as Toyota has withdrawn and Sauber has an unblemished record in F1 and the support of the other teams, particularly Ferrari, the team is hoping that the F1 commission and the World Council should give them the nod at a series of meetings in early December in Monaco. FIA president Jean Todt has always had a strong personal relationship with Sauber, to whom he sold customer Ferrari engines for many years when he was in charge of Gestione Sportiva and it will be interesting to see how much faith the FIA has in the team. One would expect quite a bit. They should be able to pick up in 2010 at a pretty high level.

However Toyota has been trying to tempt new F1 teams and other potential entrants with a deal whereby they can lease the facilities in Cologne and use the intellectual property of next year’s cars. I’m told that the deal on the table is quite attractive and that a group of investors from Serbia are looking at it. It is getting quite late in the day now to pull something together, but this will present an interesting situation at the FIA meetings in early December. Toyota has the entry, Sauber does not. That situation either has to be upheld or overturned in Sauber’s favour, based on which team the FIA believes will do a better long term job.

The door will close on 2010 at the WMSC meeting on December 11.

Sauber tried to buy the team in August after BMW made the surprise decision to pull out of F1, but they could not agree a price. BMW missed the deadline to sign the Concorde Agreement as a result. Qadback came in and did a deal but it was dependent on the team getting an entry and Lotus was granted the 13th slot ahead of the Qadback/BMW offerring.

Lately there were stories about the Qadback deal falling apart and BMW’s misgivings. Now the Munich manufacturer has gone back to Sauber and done the deal it should have done in the summer. So much has been lost by not doing it then and by losing all the commercial rights the team had built up over time. Now non-signatories of the Concorde Agreement, they effectively have to start from scratch commercially.

It is not known yet what price Sauber paid or who his backers are, although I’ve seen rumours on the internet that they may be American. I have yet to get that confirmed. Sauber will downsize the team to 250 employees from the 388 it had grown to and this will be mirrored with other teams over the next 12 months as the resource restriction agreement comes into place.

“I am very relieved that we have found this solution” said Sauber. “It means we can keep the Hinwil location and the majority of workplaces. I am convinced that the new team has a very good future in Formula One, whose current transformation with new framework conditions will benefit the private teams.”

If Sauber gets the nod, it offers a strong option to Nick Heidfeld, who is still waiting to see what Mercedes will do. Another Sauber alumnus, Giancarlo Fisichella, has also been taking to the team about a drive for next year, with Ferrari’s support.

The door closed for Fisi at Force India today as they announced Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi will race for the team again next season. Scotsman Paul di Resta is testing for the team in the young guns test at Jerez next week hoping to be awarded the third driver role.