After demonstrating a promisingly brisk car in dry conditions, Kimi Räikkönen claimed tenth position during a rain afflicted qualifying session for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix, while Romain Grosjean was fifteenth fastest but will start in twentieth position due to a penalty for a gearbox change.

Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05. Q : P10, 1:45.811. FP3 : P4, 1:16.238

“We weren’t fast in the wet today for some reason and we need to look at why that was. I wasn’t able to get any grip from the tyres, even when we tried a fresh set of wets half way through the final qualifying session. In the dry the car is very good and in the races our car usually has strong pace. Let’s hope for some dry weather tomorrow and see what happens.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director :
“A frustrating session.”
How do you assess today’s qualifying performance ?
“Qualifying was a frustrating session. In the dry we looked to be comfortably one of the quickest cars out there, but as soon as it rained we really struggled with both. We will obviously investigate why we weren’t able to extract any pace at the crucial time today.”

What can be done in the race ?
“The forecast is for a dry race and we are confident in our pace in those conditions, particularly over a race distance. Kimi can still have a good race from P10 on the grid and we’re looking at the strategy options for him. Romain has more work to do from P20, but it’s a relatively easy track in terms of overtaking with DRS so we can still achieve a good result.”