Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean returned to the podium with Kimi taking second and Romain third in a fast-paced German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. Kimi finished just 1.008 seconds behind race winner Sebastian Vettel, who took his first home Grand Prix victory. Kimi remains in third position in the Drivers’ Championship with 116 points, but closes the gap from Fernando Alonso (123) to seven points. The team was the highest scoring in the Constructors’ Championship today, remaining in fourth place on 157 points, with Ferrari on 180 in third.

- Kimi started from P5 with a scrubbed set of soft tyres, changing to new medium compound tyres on laps 8 and 24 and a final set of scrubbed soft tyres on lap 49.

Kimi Räikkönen, P2, E21-03
“We had a pretty good last stint of the race, but the cars are close on performance so it’s difficult to overtake. Maybe some more laps would have helped us, but the race is only 60 laps so you have to do your best with that. After my first stop I was stuck behind a Mercedes for a while, but once I was past the car was pretty good. After the safety car three of us were able to pull away, but we were too close on speed to change the order. It was a good day for the team. Of course, we wanted to win; we couldn’t, but we did score the most points here. The warmer temperatures definitely helped us, so let’s hope for some more hot weather in Budapest.” 

Kimi Räikkönen qualified fourth with Romain Grosjean fifth after a hotly contested qualifying session for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix. Today’s placings make for the team’s second best qualifying performance this season, after qualifying second and sixth for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03. Q: P4, 1:30.676. FP3: P6, 1:30.671
“My car was okay today, but in my Q3 lap on the new tyres I struggled to get the fronts up to temperature which meant I lost quite a bit of time in the first sector; probably because there was traffic on my out lap meaning I couldn’t push as much as I wanted. For sure it didn’t help and we probably should have been P3 today, but P4 is still a pretty good place to be for the race.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:

How was qualifying for the team?
We’re reasonably happy with today’s performance. Of course, you always want more and we could have got a little more from both cars in the final qualifying session as neither driver posted a good first sector. That said, with P4 and P5 on the grid, we’re happy. How’s it looking for the race?
We know that our race simulations yesterday looked good and the forecast is for high temperatures tomorrow, so I think we can look forward to having a strong race.
br> How are the tyres working here?
The new rear construction with the Kevlar belt doesn’t appear to be hurting our performance and we’re as competitive as we thought we’d be here so we’ve no worries on that front.

Any particular strategy considerations for the race?
The medium compound looks to be the favoured one for the race as the soft has a reasonably high performance degradation; such that we have seen Ferrari opt to start on the medium compound as their approach to managing it. It will be interesting to see how that approach works; from our side, we’re pretty happy with starting on the soft.

Kimi Räikkönen set a new record for consecutive Grand Prix points placings [25] by taking fifth position in an eventful British Grand Prix at Silverstone today. The Finn ran as high as second place in a race punctuated by safety car periods and characterised by an unusual amount of tyre failures. Kimi leaves Silverstone third in the Drivers’ Championship while the team remains fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.

- Kimi started from P8 with a used set of medium tyres, changing to new hard tyres on laps 11 and 29.
- Today was Kimi’s 36th consecutive race finish – 28th consecutive with Lotus F1 Team – and 25th consecutive Grand Prix points finish; the latter statistic meaning he sets a new record

Kimi Räikkönen, P5, E21-03 "We had good pace and looked set for a pretty easy P2, but this is racing sometimes"
“I tried to hold on at the end of the race, but with tyres that were maybe twenty laps older than the others’ it was impossible to keep them behind. It’s a shame as the race went pretty well until then; we had good pace and looked set for a pretty easy P2, but this is racing sometimes. It’s three races now where we haven’t had the result we maybe expect, but hopefully if we can have a bit more luck and also get rid of some of the mistakes we’ll be able to get back to the front.” 

Kimi Räikkönen will start in ninth after today’s qualifying for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

After a promising Q1 session where the cars finished P3 and P4, Q2 and Q3 proved to be more difficult at the team’s local circuit. Kimi ran with a Device-equipped E21, whilst Romain ran with a new slimline bodywork package.

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03. Q: P9, 1:30.962. FP3: P8, 1:32.459
“It was a close qualifying session between both of the team’s cars so I think we both got pretty much all there was from the car today. It’s not ideal as we’d like to be nearer the front of the grid, but it is what it is. We’ll go into the race wanting to get a better result than we did in qualifying. Usually this is what happens for us and and hopefully that is the case again tomorrow.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
How was qualifying for the team?
I’m reasonably happy with both cars making it into the top ten but, of course, we would have liked a bit more from today. Romain didn’t have a perfect last lap and suffered from understeer in Turn 15 whilst there didn’t seem to be much more pace in Kimi’s car.

How are the tyres working here?
They seem to be quite close for us in terms of ultimate lap pace. We had quite a dilemma as to whether we should run Romain on the harder tyres in Q3 as he went very well on them in Q1. Other than that, both compounds are well suited to the demands of Silverstone and there should be a range of strategy permutations available tomorrow.

How’s the weather affecting the performance?
Like many of the crew, the E21 certainly prefers warmer temperatures. The cloud cover today can mean a reasonable temperature drop, so we’re certainly hoping for clearer skies and a warmer track tomorrow.

The race of the season

It¹s always really nice to start practise in Silverstone. It¹s a circuit, where you really enjoy driving a Formula One car. The flowing nature of the real fast lap gives always something extra for the driver.

Obviously, this is the most important race weekend for the team. It¹s our home race, while the factory is near-by, and the Enstone people with their families can come and enjoy the atmosphere with us.

All we want is to give a good show and I have a good feeling, we should be able to fight in the front after a couple of not that strong races.

At least, the hopes are high. We have some interesting new parts for the car. Hopefully we will get good weather to test them properly on Friday. If everything goes well, we should have a competitive car for Silverstone-type of a circuit.

We were strong in Barcelona, and Silverstone should suit us as well as the the Spanish track.

It¹s time to stop losing ground to the leaders. We have lost 40 points to them in the last two races. That just shows, how quickly things can change in the modern F1. But the main focus now is to get back closer the front. We have had our share of poor results, so I suppose, that will happen to all of us, sooner or later during the season.

We have to be ready to attack, if the leaders have their share of problems. All in all, we have to patient, do our best - and start getting podiums again.

Weekend to forget

As I have said many times, I'm here to race, not to make numbers. Well, the Canadian race weekend was not at all the one I would like to try to remember afterwards. A simple reason was that we didn't have speed enough during the whole event.

Obviously, we still have a problem with the wet weather. The qualifying in the rain was a dreadful experience. We didn't have any grip to go fast, so we could not get anything out of it, and then, after a while, we got a grid penalty as the final addition to a bad day.

If you want to find a positive thing in our side, so while the stewards decide to punish you, it's good you have not reached the top position. That would have hurt much more.

The race was very tricky for us. To start in the middle of pack in a circuit like Montreal with a car lacking the speed to compete with the top guys, there is nothing else to do, but try to finish the race with decent points.

We had the worst pit stop during the season so far, the car was dropped, and we lost even more with that. So finishing the race in P9 was the result. They told me, I broke some record, but I don't care about any records, just the points.

Two points is better than nothing, but nothing to be pleased with.

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Doors, tires, and bumpers are only three things to look out for when getting accessories for your side-by-side. Shop around on the internet to find more things like decals and hubcaps.

Kimi Räikkönen equalled Michael Schumacher’s record of consecutive points finishes as he endured a difficult Canadian Grand Prix. Romain Grosjean fought through the field to temporarily occupy a points placing, before an unexpected second stop dropped him to 13th place from his back of the grid start in Montréal.

Kimi falls to third place in the Drivers’ Championship, with Fernando Alonso now in second, 12 points ahead of him. The team drops to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, with Mercedes 20 points ahead in third.

Kimi started from P10 with a new set of supersoft tyres, changing to new mediums on lap 22.

Today was Kimi’s 35th consecutive race finish – 27th consecutive with Lotus F1 Team – and 24th consecutive Grand Prix points finish; the latter statistic meaning he equals Michael Schumacher’s record.

Kimi Räikkönen, P9, E21-03
"It’s been a bad weekend, but at least we scored a few points"

“My race didn’t start very well and then my brakes were fading with the pedal going soft; similar to the problem we had on Friday. It wasn’t ideal but at least the brakes were good enough to slow me down for the corners. Unfortunately though it meant I lost a lot of time and wasn’t able to attack, plus we lost a few seconds in the pit stop which obviously didn’t help either. Most of my race was just following the cars in front and defending from those behind, so not the most enjoyable day nor the most enjoyable result. It’s been a bad weekend, but at least we scored a few points.”

Kimi Räikkönen will start from tenth on the grid after a penalty as he did not leave the pit exit in the order in which he arrived, for FP3 - after a hectic qualifying session for the Canadian Grand Prix. Following a shortened morning practice session, qualifying was wet throughout with a brief red flag period nearing the end of Q2.

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03. Q: P9, 1:27.432. FP3: P10, 1:20.316
“We didn’t have grip in these conditions so we did pretty much all we could do, but if there’s no grip you can’t go faster. In this weather it’s difficult as sometimes the rain gets harder, sometimes the track is drying so you have to try to be out there when the circuit’s at its best. P9 on the grid is not what we want so we’ll have to see what we can do in the race tomorrow.”

How was qualifying for the team?
It was a disappointing day for us. Romain couldn’t get a good lap in the first session meaning he will start from the back of the grid. Kimi struggled too and will start from ninth, which is not where we want to be. The E21 clearly wasn’t working well in the wet conditions experienced today. We opted for a more dry weather focused set-up which, although it hindered us today, should benefit us tomorrow if the weather does stay dry. We certainly weren’t expecting the level of water that we did see on the track during qualifying.

How difficult was it on the pitwall through qualifying?
It wasn’t that difficult as it was consistently wet rather than being wet and dry giving us a decision to make on which tyres to run. We went for the first lap of Q1 with both cars using the super soft dry tyre and it was immediately clear that it was too wet for slicks. After that, timing and finding space on track became the key considerations. Predicting when there might be yellow flags, unfortunately, is a very difficult science.

What are the predictions for tomorrow’s weather and strategy?
Certainly we expect it to be warmer than today and that should help us. There’s still a chance of rain, but the track and air temperatures should be of benefit. If it is dry then we – like all of the teams – will be learning the slick tyre performance as we go along as there has been only limited running on them so far this weekend. That said, I think it could be a race of 1-2 pit stops rather than a 3-4 stop strategy.

Romain Grosjean ended the first day of practice for the Canadian Grand Prix with the third fastest time, whilst team-mate Kimi Räikkönen – fifth fastest in the morning – saw his afternoon session curtailed as the team investigated a brake issue on his E21.

The morning session saw a damp but drying circuit, with afternoon running conducted in cool, dry conditions. Pirelli’s wet and intermediate tyres were used in the morning; the medium, super soft and developmental medium compound dry tyres in the afternoon.

Technical programme notes:

- Both drivers ran with new, Montréal downforce level front and rear wing specifications today
- Pirelli’s wet (blue), intermediate (green) and medium compound dry (white) tyres were used in the morning session, the medium, developmental medium and super soft (red) in the afternoon
- Kimi had a brake issue in the afternoon which ended his session early

What we learned today:

- The Montréal-spec front and rear wings and related aero package work well
- The E21 looks good in damp conditions but did not display its customary high-fuel pace

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03
Free practice 1: P5, 1:21.608, 22 laps
Free practice 2: P11, 1:15.599, 35 laps

"We improved the car through the day"

Kimi: “We improved the car through the day and by the end of the session it was ok; not ideal but certainly not a disaster either. It wasn’t easy to get the tyres up to temperature today, but it’s pretty cold at the circuit so that’s not too much of a surprise. If we can get the tyres working better it will be an improvement for sure, but it’s not going to change the world. We’ll be looking at how to get them a bit warmer for qualifying tomorrow and then see what the weather does. After that, we’ll do the best we can.” 

Back to normal

The season so far has not been that bad for me. Monaco was a certain disaster, but, obviously, you cannot escape weekends like that from time to time.

We have dropped some points more behind Vettel, but it’s still long way to go in this championship. Now the main focus is getting back our normal rhythm and be back fighting for good positions in qualifying and even stronger for podiums in the race.

I like the atmosphere in Montreal. It’s always nice to come over to Canada. But usually it means also a certain kind of casino with the weather conditions and the griplevels of the tarmac.

We race whatever is the weather, but, for sure, I would prefer the dry track from the soaking one, at least. The car has been better in the wet, too, but there is always room to improve.

Canada gives always a real tricky challenge with the set-up work. In this circuit getting everything right feels first so difficult, but if you don’t miss too much track time in the practise, you gain good confidence for the qualifying.

The qualifying is always important, but here it doesn’t hurt you as much as it does in Monaco. With a good car and good strategy you can still do well.

It’s a long time since I was on podium in Montreal. Now we do our very best to get back there. We need good points after losing so many in Monaco due to circumstances outside our control.

Obviously, there is not too much to say about the Monaco Grand Prix weekend. We didn¹t start that well on Thursday, but managed to get the car ok for Saturday and Sunday. Then we ¹joined the train¹ going around the circuit in the race ­ but were pushed out off it during the final laps.

Once again the race showed how tricky it is to overtake in Monaco. We got the fifth place in the grid, raced most of the time fifth, and settled for the P5... But is was not to come for us. It was just ten laps to go, while I¹ve got hit from behind.

The rear wheel was destroyed and I had to limb back to the pits. Coming back with fresh tyres we were in P16. But at least then I saw how nice it is to race in a clean air with new tyres.

We managed to do some overtaking and got back to the TOP 10. We got one point back, but, obviously, it was a very, very disappointing end for the weekend.

Just imagine how great it would have been to go in the front of the pack with our car... At least we know, our car is competitive in all kind of circuits.

We had some good results earlier on before Monaco, so one bad result doesn¹t mean the championship is lost.

But as I have said many times, there will be a weekend, where we are not going to be happy, and this was one of those. Hopefully the only one, as well!

Kimi Räikkönen salvaged a solitary point on the final lap of an incident-rich Monaco Grand Prix after a late puncture forced him to pit from fifth place. Having re-joined the field in thirteenth, Kimi made back three places in the last two laps to take his tally of unbroken points scoring races to 23. Kimi remains second in the Drivers’ Championship, but is now 21 points behind leader Sebastian Vettel. The team remains in third place in the Constructors’ Championship, now eleven points from Ferrari.

- Kimi started from P5 with a used set of supersoft tyres, changing to new softs on lap 26, another set of new softs during the race suspension and finally scrubbed supersofts on lap 70
- Today was Kimi’s 34th consecutive race finish – 26th consecutive with Lotus F1 Team - and 23rd consecutive Grand Prix points finish; the latter leaving him just one shy of Michael Schumacher’s record

Kimi Räikkönen, P10, E21-03
“It was a really disappointing day. Because of one stupid move from Sergio [Perez] we’ve lost a lot of points to Sebastian [Vettel] in the Championship and you can’t afford to lose ground like that. He hit me from behind and that’s about all there is to it. If he thinks it’s my fault that he came into the corner too fast then he obviously has no idea what he’s talking about. It’s not the first time he’s hit someone in the race; he seems to expect people to be always looking at what he might do, then move over or go straight on if he comes into the corner too quick and isn’t going to make it without running into someone. Not the ideal weekend but there’s nothing we can do about it. At least we got one point back at the end.” 

Kimi Räikkönen will start from fifth on the grid after an exciting rain-visited qualifying session for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03. Q: P5, 1:14.822. FP3: P6, 1:15.380
It was a difficult day today because of the weather, but it was the same for all of the drivers. Obviously, qualifying here is never the easiest with the traffic and the barriers and you’d always prefer it to be dry as it’s so slippery when it’s wet. I’m happy we made it through to the top ten and P5 was more or less the best we could do with seven tenths to the next fastest car. I’m not sure what we’ll do in the race; we don’t have a clear picture yet as you never know exactly what the strategies from everyone else will be, but for sure we’ll find out tomorrow.

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
How was qualifying for the team?
It was a disappointing session for us. Firstly we need to say a big thank you to Romain’s crew for getting his car ready for qualifying in lightening quick time, and they were rewarded by a lightening quick first lap from their man. Unfortunately, traffic at the end of Q2 prevented him from getting into the top ten which was a great shame. Kimi has a reasonable position with P5 on the grid, but moving forwards up the order at Monaco is exceptionally difficult so any gains tomorrow will be hard won.

How difficult was it on the pitwall through qualifying?
Our car worked well in all conditions today so the weather wasn’t so much of a problem, we just had to ensure we had the correct tyres on at the right time. Finding clear track here is always difficult, no matter what the weather, and that’s what we saw with Romain today.

What’s possible in the race?
Monaco is a very different circuit from any other, with the short lap length and traffic considerations meaning that there are not many viable options for different strategies. Add that to a dry weather forecast for tomorrow – plus the fact that it’s almost impossible to pass here – and we have a very difficult race in prospect. We will of course look at all possibilities and do what we can to get our cars to the front. It’s a very long race and we have seen fortunes change on a Sunday quite often thus far in 2013, so anything’s possible.

Kimi Räikkönen completed the first practice sessions for the Monaco Grand Prix with the sixth fastest time of the day, with team-mate Romain Grosjean right behind him in seventh. Kimi set his time on the super soft Pirelli tyre.

As part of the team’s partnership with Columbia Records, both cars and drivers – as well as the team garage – sport eye-catching Daft Punk livery for this weekend.

Technical programme notes

- Both drivers ran with new front and rear wing specifications today.
- Pirelli’s soft (yellow) compound tyre was used in the morning session, the soft and supersoft (red) in the afternoon.
- The Monaco barriers are unforgiving.

What we learned today:
- The Monaco-spec front and rear wings work well.
- The E21 looks good on both tyre dry compounds.

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03
Free Practice 1: P11, 1:17.509, 26 laps
Free Practice 2: P6, 1:15.511, 39 laps

Kimi:
“I was much happier at the end of today than this morning. We spent the first session getting the steering right as it wasn’t great at the beginning, then we changed a few things on the car and it felt far better. We’ve still got a few other areas to improve, but it was getting stronger with every run today. To get pole we have to make the car a bit faster overall and I have to drive a bit better, then we’ll have to see what happens.” 

Nothing compares

So far we have been around the world for a while, done five Grands Prix, but it¹s still quite early times for the championship considerations. For me every race is as important as Monaco. But, however, there is no other race like this one.

This is the weekend, you cannot afford to waste any of the precious track time in practise. You have to find the best feeling with the car and with the tyres to go really fast. Obviously, we lost the FP1 last year, and paid heavily for that. I have been racing in Monaco so many times, I know, it¹s no use to cry afterwards anything. This is the place, where it¹s so very tricky to have a clean weekend. But while you get it, everything goes to the plan, so it feels great. It¹s just like a part of magic of this legendary Grand Prix.

It¹s always such a nice atmosphere down here in Monaco. You can feel it looking around from the car, as well. To be a fan or a spectator, you enjoy this race 100%. For the teams and for the drivers it¹s not that easy weekend. The streets of Monte Carlo are so twisty and narrow. You have to be extra sharp and focussed for every single metre that you go fast there. You simply have less room for an error compared to any other race. Obviously, you cannot overestimate the value of a good qualifying session. While overtaking is almost impossible, you have to start from the TOP 3 positions. The only way really to enjoy racing in Monaco, is to be in the front of the pack.

Obviously, we struggled here last year, but I feel Lotus have really improved in many areas ever since. The target is do our very best weekend of the season. I always aim to win. Let¹s find out, how it goes this time!

God damned second place - again!

Winning means everything to me. Obviously, I hate losing, but it¹s not that meaningless to finish a Grand Prix in a second place. Right now it means good points every time.

Well, finishing second three times in a row, doesn¹t feel that great, but if there is a different winner, you gain the most points with a series of second spots, as well.

This is a very tight championship. We have been able to start with pretty good results in the first five races, so it¹s not that bad situation to carry on to the summer season.

We had high hopes for Spanish Grand Prix. We did our very best, but all in all, I have to say, we didn¹t deserve more than finishing second.

Obviously, the Mercedes cars seem to be too fast for everybody else in qualifying. While they got the front row, the rest of the pack was competing for the second row places. We got P4. It was not that brilliant to start from the dirtier side of the track, but we survived and start climbing higher again like in the last few races.

I was leading the race in the midway, and for a short while, I thought we could challenge Fernando Alonso for the victory, but it was not to be this time.

We settled down taking the second place, so we got a podium again and that was enough to catch the championship leader Sebastian Vettel by some points. That was the main target for Barcelona, and that was achieved ­ in a deserved way.

After Spain I chilled out with the friends, watched the icehockey championships on TV and, most of all, focussed on the the huge challenges of Monaco.

Kimi Räikkönen took his fourth podium finish of the season with second place in the Spanish Grand Prix; moving him to within a tantalising four points of Championship Leader Sebastian Vettel. The team falls to third in the Constructors’ Championship, six points away from Ferrari who attained a double podium finish today.

- Kimi started from P4 with used medium tyres, changing to used mediums on lap 10 and the same again on lap 26. He made a final stop for new hard tyres on lap 45. - Today was Kimi’s 22nd consecutive Grand Prix points finish; the Finn having completed every race since his Grand Prix return with Lotus F1 Team in 2012.

Kimi Räikkönen, P2, E21-03
"It’s good for the championship that Sebastian finished behind us"
“Unfortunately it’s second place again so it’s not time to celebrate too much. The car felt good and we did pretty much all we could today, but we didn’t have the pace to challenge Fernando [Alonso]. I drove to the maximum and it’s good for the championship that Sebastian finished behind us. It’s nice to be on the podium for me and the team; let’s see what we can do in Monaco.” 

Kimi Räikkönen will start from fourth on the grid after qualifying for the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix. On a warm and dry day at the Circuit de Catalunya the E21 proved pacey and reliable, with both drivers proceeding through Q1 using only the hard compound tyres.

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03. Q: P4, 1:21.177. FP3: P2, 1:21.907
"Our race pace has been pretty good all year so let’s try and get on the podium"
“That was more or less all we could do today. I didn’t make any mistakes on my fastest lap so that was pretty much all there was to come from the car. I wouldn’t say it was a perfect lap, but I don’t think we would have been much higher up the order if it had been. The Mercedes, as we’ve seen before, seems to be pretty fast in qualifying but hopefully in the race we can turn it around. Our race pace has been pretty good all year so let’s try and get on the podium. I’ll have to make a good start, then let’s see what happens.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
"There’s certainly the potential to have a very good race tomorrow"
How was qualifying for the team?
We’re pretty happy with today’s performance. We made some changes from yesterday then had a productive morning validating them on track. It was a reasonably straight-forward qualifying session with both cars saving two sets of the medium tyres for Q3 and no real dramas to speak of. Unfortunately Romain had a lock-up on his last lap, otherwise he would have been right on Kimi’s pace, but to have the slower of our two cars starting from P6 certainly isn’t a cause for concern.

Looking at race strategy, does the new hard compound or allocation of the hard and medium present any issues?
It doesn’t cause us any problems. The new hard compound seems better suited to this track than the previous version, certainly with the temperatures we’ve experienced here. It works well for us. The allocation of the hard and medium compounds is not a life changing scenario either.

What’s possible in the race?
P4 and P6 starting positions are pretty decent for us when you consider the race pace and tyre management we’ve been able to show so far this season. There’s certainly the potential to have a very good race tomorrow.

Kimi Räikkönen went fourth fastest at the Circuit de Catalunya on the opening day of action for the Spanish Grand Prix. Kimi set a 1min 23.030secs lap on medium compound tyres in the dry afternoon session.

Technical programme notes:
- Both drivers ran with new front and rear wing specifications today. Romain also ran with the older specification front wing for evaluation purposes
- Kimi evaluated new rear suspension components
- Pirelli’s intermediate wet tyre (green) and hard compound dry tyre (orange) were used in the morning session, the hard and medium dry tyres (white) in the afternoon

What we learned today:
- The latest front and rear wings work well
- We are analysing the data from the new rear suspension components
- The E21 looks good on both dry tyre compounds
- Changes to improve the E21’s wet weather performance look to be beneficial

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03
Free Practice 1: P8, 1:26.614, 21 laps
Free Practice 2: P4, 1:23.030, 32 laps
"For sure there are some things we have to improve with the car which is normal after the first day’s running"
Kimi: "It was a pretty normal Friday. We tried some things on the car, ran with some different tyres and we’ll have a look at all the data to see where we think we are. We finished the day not too far off the fastest time, so we can say that the day wasn’t a disaster, but for sure there are some things we have to improve with the car which is normal after the first day’s running."

"The morning rain was actually beneficial for us"
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “We’re pretty happy with today’s performance. Romain’s position in the afternoon session is not representative of his potential as a cracked exhaust cost him performance for his run on the softer tyre, but other than that he’s comfortable with how his car is performing. Kimi was happy with the handling and balance of his car and that’s reflected in his pace. The morning rain was actually beneficial for us as it afforded an opportunity to run our latest developments aimed at addressing a relative lack of wet weather pace, and we’re happy with the progress made in this area.”

The first part of the season is behind us. Our target was to improve from what we got in first four races of 2012, and, obviously, we have gain some better results, and, the most importantly, a few more points.

Winning and clinching podiums has given a good basis for this championship campaign. We have not had the fastest car, but it¹s realiable and competitive, so no complaints so far.

The Bahrain weekend showed again, how crucial it is to get a top result in qualifying. We didn¹t have the speed for one lap, my lap was not perfect and all in all, we dropped too many places behind the leaders.

The race itself was a matter of taking care of the tyres. I was already on Friday thinking of two stops, and, it prooved to be the fastest way for us in the race. It could have been a little bit easier with the Force India, but we played it safe and I stopped quite early.

There was no way to fight for the victory against Vettel. We got second and third place and, for sure, that was a great result for the team. Obviously, we have work to do to keep on fighting with the top guys, but so far, so good. I¹m quite happy with that.

Now it¹s time to move to European season, starting from Barcelona. This is so refreshing time of the year. I don¹t like the long journeys, so it¹s nice to be that much closer to the racing circuits from home. For Barcelona everybody will bring new parts to their cars. It¹s going to be interesting to see, how it turns out to be there in Friday practice.

Kimi Räikkönen took his third podium finish of the season and Romain Grosjean his first after a superb second and third place result in today’s Bahrain Grand Prix. After emulating the 2-3 result of the same result as last year, Lotus F1 Team returns to second position in the Constructors’ Championship with Kimi leading the chase of leader Sebastian Vettel from second in the Drivers’ standings.

- Kimi suffered from an allergic reaction before he started the race.
- Kimi started from P8 with used medium tyres, changing to new hard tyres on laps 16 and 34.

Kimi Räikkönen, P2, E21-03
“You’re never really happy if you don’t win, but I suppose second place is as close as you can get. I drove to the maximum and the car had the pace that we missed in qualifying yesterday so it was a pretty good result. We didn’t have the speed to challenge Sebastian [Vettel] today but we did have the pace to get both cars on the podium so I’m happy for the team.”

Eric Boullier, Team Principal
"Here we are again, just like in 2012! This time around though it was much more difficult – especially after a qualifying performance which fell below our expectations – but we’ve shown flashes of pace throughout the weekend and confirmed that speed when it mattered today. The win was not quite within our reach after the start we made, but to come away with a double podium when the top six would maybe have been a more realistic pre-race target was a great performance from everybody involved. I’m delighted for the whole team here in Bahrain and back at Enstone; it’s a well-deserved result.” 

Kimi Räikkönen set the ninth fastest time during qualifying for the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix. Kimi will start from eighth after a penalty for Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton.

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03.
Q: P9, 1:33.327.
FP3: P4, 1:33.446

“It wasn’t the easiest qualifying session after a weekend which hasn’t been the easiest so far either. Yesterday it was difficult at times to find the balance with the car and I found that again today. This morning it felt good and we didn’t do too bad in free practice, but we didn’t quite get it right this afternoon. My lap wasn’t great, but it’s a long race so we’ll just have to see what we can do tomorrow.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:

How was qualifying for the team?

We’re obviously disappointed with the qualifying result. We just missed the cut for Q3 with Romain who had been looking strong, but unfortunately the track evolution caught us out a little bit and he made a couple of small errors on his only lap in Q2. If this hadn’t been the case, we’re sure he would have made it through.

What about Kimi?
Kimi’s session was a bit more of a mystery. His second run in Q2 was pretty respectable but it just didn’t come together for him in Q3. He’s been strong all weekend up until that point, so we’ll need to trawl through the data this evening to understand what happened.

Are we still confident ahead of the race?
We were very happy with our long run pace yesterday, with both cars showing decent pace and manageable tyre degradation levels. It’s a tough race on tyres which tends to work to our advantage and we managed a great result from a very similar situation this time last year, so we’re certainly not out of it yet.

Kimi Räikkönen went fastest for Lotus F1 Team on the opening day of action here at round four of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship; the Bahrain Grand Prix. Kimi set a 1min 34.154secs lap using the medium compound tyres in hot conditions during the Friday afternoon practice session.

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director - Technical programme notes

- Kimi ran with the latest front wing specification.
- Kimi evaluated new rear suspension components during the morning session.
- Pirelli’s hard (orange) compound tyre was used in the first session, the hard and medium (white) tyres in the afternoon.


What we learned today:

The latest front wing works well.
We are analysing the data from the new rear suspension components.
The car looks good with both tyre compounds.


Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03 Free practice 1: P9, 1:35.345, 17 laps Free practice 2: P1, 1:34.154, 31 laps

"There’s still more time to be found."

Kimi: “It’s nice to be fastest but you never know what the others are doing; we just stick to our programme and don’t take too much notice of what else is happening. I actually made a mistake through the final corners on my fastest lap, so there’s still more time to be found. It’s tricky to get the setup right here and the wind can make a big difference; it might work for you one way but make things more tricky the other. It wasn’t a bad start today; things aren’t exactly where we want them but we’re reasonably fast, so let’s see what we can do from here.”

I¹m a racing driver, and being one, I always want to win. When we talk about the races in China last week and in Bahrain last year, well, obviously, we finished second in both occasions. So something was missed, but, to be honest, I can live with that.

We have a competitive car. But it¹s not easy to get everything right with it in the set-ups. While it works, it is ok. So we got it going ok in China, and hopefully we manage to get it good in Bahrain, too.

This is a very tight championship. Every point counts. For sure, there will be more not that good weekends like we had in Malaysia, so it¹s important to minimize the losses then, likewise to maximize the result, while the car is going well.

The race at Shanghai started badly, then I know now, how it felt going close range to McLaren. We lost some parts of the nose, but, surprisingly, not that much the speed after all.

To finish second was probably the best possible result with all the happenings we experienced, but still I was not that happy, while I knew, we could have fought stronger for P1 as well.

After the race I went back home, rested a little bit and recharge the batteries to keep on fighting in Bahrain this weekend. I have some very good memories from there, but, unfortunately, some not that good, too. Last year we gambled on qualifying, but didn¹t loose the chance to fight for the victory.

Obviously, it doesn¹t help a single bit this time, how we did last year. It¹s a brand new ball game every time were start a new race weekend. We expect to be competitive, but we have to wait until Friday morning, to learn, how the car goes in Sakhir circuit this time.

Kimi clinched a hard-earned P2 in today’s Chinese Grand Prix, and is aiming to stay right at the sharp end throughout the season ahead

Q: Another podium after a tough race; are you pleased with the result?

A: Second wasn’t quite what we wanted, but in the circumstances it was the best that we could manage today. I’m not 100% happy because we didn’t win, but it is what it is and second place is a good result after a bad start and the incident with Sergio [Perez].

Q: What was your view on that incident?

A: I was moving alongside him and thought there was enough space, but in the end there wasn’t and I got pushed onto the grass. Maybe he didn’t see me and I tried my best to avoid him, but unfortunately I couldn’t so I hit the rear of his car which damaged my front wing. Luckily there was still the kerb there so I found some grip to stay on the track and carry on.

Q: How tricky was the car to handle with the damage?

A: It was quite difficult out there. Obviously the car is not designed like that otherwise we would use it all the time, but I was surprised how good it was still. Of course there were some handling issues and quite a lot of understeer which was not ideal, but we just had to try to live with it. We could have changed the wing but we would probably have lost more time overall and we still had pretty ok speed even with the damage.

Q: You’re second in the Championship, just three points off the lead; are you pleased with your start to this season?

A: We just have to keep doing our best at every race. For sure it’s not a bad start and we’re in a better position than this time last year, but we’ve only had three races so it’s too early to say. We just have to keep doing our best at every race, make sure we still pick up points if sometimes we don’t have such a good weekend and hopefully we can stay in the hunt.

Q: You needed an entourage to make it back through the paddock today; how does it feel to have such fanatical support?

A;:It’s great to see so many fans and there was a lot of noise up on the podium. Hopefully I can keep giving them some good results.

Kimi Räikkönen took his second podium finish of the season with a strong second place in the Chinese Grand Prix. Despite a rearranged nose and front wing – courtesy of contact with Sergio Perez’s McLaren – Kimi fought back after a poor start from the front row of the grid. Kimi keeps up his run of consecutive points finishes and retains second in the Drivers’ Championship on a tally of 49 points; three behind leader Sebastian Vettel. The team falls one place to third position in the Constructors’ Championship on 60 points, with Ferrari now ahead with 73 points.

- Both drivers started on scrubbed sets of the soft compound (yellow) Pirelli tyre.
- Kimi pitted for new mediums (white) on laps 6, 21 and 34, Romain on laps 7, 23 and 37.
- Kimi incurred damage to his front wing after an early collision with Sergio Perez.

Kimi Räikkönen, P2, E21-03
“Second wasn’t quite what we wanted, but in the circumstances it was the best that we could manage today. I’m not 100% happy because we didn’t win, but it is what it is and second place is a good result after a bad start and the incident with Sergio [Perez]. It was quite difficult out there; obviously the car is not designed like that otherwise we would use it all the time, but I was surprised how good it was still. Of course there were some handling issues which was not ideal, but we just had to try to live with it and we still had pretty okay speed.” 

Kimi Räikkönen will have his first front row start since the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix after qualifying second for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit. Kimi set a 1min 34.761secs lap using Pirelli’s soft compound tyre and will start alongside Lewis Hamilton for the 56 lap race.

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03.
Q: P2, 1:34.761.
FP3: P7, 1:36.605

“This is my best qualifying for the team which is good, but of course you always want to be on pole. It’s been quite a tricky weekend so far and we’ve had a few small issues with setup, but it’s always difficult to get things exactly how you want them and the car seems to be working well now. The tyres will of course be the question mark tomorrow; some people are starting on the primes but we chose the strategy we think will work best. Hopefully we can keep managing the degradation well like we have so far this season and have a good race tomorrow.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:


How was qualifying for the team?
We’re obviously very happy with the result today. Kimi has been comfortable with his car pretty much all weekend; not so much this morning when a small set up change was made, but that was reversed and he was back where we wanted to be.

What was the problem with Romain’s car?
Romain had a difficult morning but with no real issues; just circumstantial problems which put things on hold briefly. He went into qualifying with a car that was unchanged from this morning, so bearing in mind his earlier tribulations he did a great job to take P6.

What are the considerations the for race strategy?
We’ve done all our race preparation and run work so we know where we are in terms of both the soft and the medium compound tyres; we’re pretty confident on strategy and looking forward to running a very strong race.

What is possible tomorrow?
From second and sixth anything is possible; we will certainly be pushing to get both drivers on the podium with one of them on the top step.

Kimi Räikkönen set the second fastest time of the first day during the opening sessions for round three of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship; the Chinese Grand Prix. Kimi lapped the Shanghai International Circuit in a time of 1min 35.492secs during a soft tyre run in the afternoon session. Romain Grosjean was hampered on his flying lap using the softs; ending his second session with the twelfth fastest time. Kimi trialled new rear floor aero parts.

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director - Technical programme notes:

- We evaluated a new front wing on Romain’s car.
- Kimi ran with new aero components on the rear floor.
- Pirelli’s medium (white) compound tyre was used in the first session, the medium and soft (yellow) tyres during the second.
- Romain ran with the latest exhaust package in the morning, reverting to the older configuration in the afternoon for comparison purposes.

What we learned today: - The new front wing appears to be beneficial and Romain will continue with it for the rest of the weekend.
- The data from the rear exhaust package appears to confirm the benefit of the latest specification.
- The car looks good with both tyre compounds.

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03
Free practice 1: P11, 1:38.790, 16 laps
Free practice 2: P2, 1:35.492, 32 laps 

Crossing the break It has been a different kind of break for me. I have spent some time with my motocross team, while they had their opening race for the European season in an ice cold Valkenswaard in the Netherlands.

The atmosphere was great, there were a lot of motocross fans and the races were great to watch. I personally had a racing driver to a racing driver chat with my motocross team competitors, They are professionals like me and it felt good to change opinions between F1 and motocross drivers.

I tried the bike myself, as well, and it was pretty refreshing way to have a break from Formula One.

Now it¹s time for the third race weekend of the Formula One season. China has been a good place for me from time to time, but every race gives a brand new challenge. It doesn¹t help how we did there 5-6 years ago, or in the last couple of races this season.

Obviously, we have a car to do our very best every weekend. What to expect from Shanghai, that I can say after the practise sessions, not before. That¹s how it goes every time.

Last year we went for it with a tyre risk. We knew it was a long way to go with the same set of tyres. Then it didn¹t work out, and we have to pay for it loosing many positions during the last few laps of the race.

Hopefully we get a good solid weekend this time. If the car goes as it has gone in the some earlier runs in this year, we should be ok for Shanghai, too. Let¹s wait and see, what the weekend brings along.

I¹m ready for it, the team has worked hard to get the car right and the weather should be ok.

Minimizing the loss

The first two races are done, I¹m back in training at home, and getting ready for the next double in China and in Bahrain.

We got the best result in Australia, but not that good in Malaysia. As I said after winning in Melbourne, the main target for the championship fight is to get strong points and if that is not possible, to minimize the not that good results while time being.

It¹s was a race to minimize the loss. Well, we lost a piece of the front wing in the first lap, then we had some tight moments with a couple of drivers, and finally managed to finish the race in P7 and take six points with us.

Afterwards it didn¹t feel too bad. We still got some points, we had a good feeling with the car on Friday, we know ­ more or less ­ what went wrong and we should be able to fix it for the next race.

Obviously, it doesn¹t mean anything right now which position we have in the championship, but still it¹s better to be closer to the top like this compared what we had done last year after a few races.

(source)