Lotus F1 Team took a formation finish with Kimi Räikkönen in sixth and Romain Grosjean seventh in the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas this afternoon.

Kimi maintains third position in the Drivers’ Championship on 206 points; 16 ahead of Lewis Hamilton in fourth. The team remains fourth in the Constructors’ Championship on 302 points; an increased 166 in front of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 in fifth.

- Kimi and Romain both started on used medium compound tyres.
- Romain pitted for new hard tyres on lap 9, Kimi on lap 24.

Kimi Räikkönen, P6, E20-05
"It was an okay day, but not a very easy one for us. I got a bad start and then I touched with a Force India at the second corner so I lost a few more places. After that the car was okay and I could get past some of the others. Unfortunately, when it got cloudy it got too cold so the tyres stopped working and that’s where we saw Jenson [Button] get past. Basically, it was a race where we were just depending on the tyres to be in their window. I’m still 3rd in the championship and we’ll do everything we can to maintain this position until the end."

Eric Boullier, Team Principal
"Today wasn’t as good as Abu Dhabi obviously, but with both cars in the points we’re quite satisfied. The first part of the race created some expectations that we could have been in a position to fight for a better result, however the race didn’t play out that way. We had a small problem in Kimi’s pit stop and lost time there. Romain made a mistake behind Nico Hulkenberg and lost the opportunity to do a better job, but he had a very strong race from there and came back well. In the end, Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari were faster and there wasn’t anything we could do. It’s good to gain some points, plus we know we have better performance still to come from the car and the ability to achieve better results, so we’re looking forward to Brazil."

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An exciting inaugural qualifying session at the Circuit of the Americas saw Kimi Räikkönen qualify in fifth. A gearbox change for Romain will see him start from ninth on the grid for tomorrow’s United States Grand Prix; with Kimi inheriting fourth position as a result of his team-mate’s penalty.

Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05. Q: P5, 1:36.708. (Starts P4) FP3: P13, 1:37.765
“I was actually expecting a more difficult qualifying session today, but the car was the best it’s felt all weekend so it turned out to be quite good. The set-up is still not exactly how I want it but it’s much closer. The warmer conditions make the car work much better and that certainly makes a difference. Starting on the dirty side of the grid maybe isn’t the best; we’ll have to hope that the circuit picks up a little more grip for the race tomorrow.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
“There’s no reason we can’t be up there challenging for a podium spot again.”

What are your thoughts on qualifying?
We’re certainly happy with today. It was a good qualifying performance from both drivers and we’ve shown that the car has improved pace in qualifying trim with the updated exhaust configuration which is a big positive. Unfortunately for Romain, we had a gearbox issue with his car this morning which means he’ll take a five place grid penalty but we know the car has good race pace; with a clean start from both drivers there’s no reason we can’t be up there challenging for a podium spot again.

How difficult has it been to get up to speed with this new circuit?
It’s been a bit of a struggle for everyone I think. We’ve seen a very green surface, low track temperatures and tyres which are really far too hard for what’s required. The circuit has started to clean up significantly which is allowing the car and tyres to behave in a much more normal fashion and it now seems to be relatively easy to run very long stints on either compound.

What are your thoughts in terms of strategy for tomorrow?
As per the last few weekends, it’s highly likely that we’re looking at another one stop race. The decision will be whether to stop early and make the jump or whether to spend the most time possible running the option tyre, so that’s what we’ll be analysing tonight.

Are we feeling optimistic heading into the race?
I think so, yes. Our race pace on Friday looked promising and – as a rule – the car has been kind on tyres so there’s no reason to believe we shouldn’t be aiming for another strong result.

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Kimi Räikkönen has taken his 19th Grand Prix victory – the 48th win for an Enstone team – with a glorious day-to-night victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Kimi made an excellent start to take second place at the start from fourth on the grid, then capitalised when Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren retired. Romain Grosjean did not finish the race after being involved in an incident for which Sergio Perez was deemed responsible.

Kimi maintains third position in the Drivers’ Championship on 198 points; a diminished 47 shy of Fernando Alonso and an increased 31 ahead of Mark Webber. The team remains fourth in the Constructors’ Championship on 288 points; a reduced 30 behind McLaren and an increased 152 in front of Mercedes.

- Kimi started on soft tyres, pitting on lap 31 for a set of new medium compound rubber.

Kimi Räikkönen, P1, E20-05
"I’m very happy for the team, and for myself also. You never know what’s going to happen during the race; the safety cars made it quite tricky, but I’ve had similar races many, many times this year. Today we had a clear circuit to be able to use our speed. Perhaps we were not the fastest at the end, but we were quick enough and consistent enough to win so it’s great for the team. We’ve had some difficult races in the second half of the season so it’s fantastic to come back with a win."

Eric Boullier, Team Principal
"I have one word first of all: Great. Then there are many words such as ‘relief’ and ‘deserved’. It’s obviously a very well deserved result for the team. I’m pleased for Kimi and he did a very good job. We’ve been pushing very hard all season and we’ve nearly had it before. There’s a little frustration not to have had a win sooner, and we have been waiting for it, but it’s a fantastic feeling to finally take that victory and a superb reward for the team. It’s great for Formula 1, it’s great for Kimi and it’s great for our team."

James Allison, Technical Director
"When you are as happy as this it is hard to avoid lapsing into cliché. Despite being tantalisingly close several times this year, we have waited a long time to return to the top step of the podium. It is a massive tribute both to a flawless drive from Kimi and to the tenacity of the entire Enstone team for never having taken their eye off the prize all year. With two races left in the season we go on to Austin with a spring in our step, invigorated to do it all over again and see what we can achieve."

Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team Support Leader
"It’s just an awesome feeling to finally win a race; the first victory for the Enstone-Viry partnership in its present configuration. All season the chassis-engine package has been strong and everyone has worked incredibly hard in the last few weeks to successfully introduce new parts to get that last piece of performance. It all worked out beautifully today and hats off to Kimi for judging it perfectly."

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Under My Thumb!

Well, as I said in India, I felt the lap time speed was there in the car to fight for the top positions. Obviously, we just couldn’t use it at all after being held up by some others during the race because of a poor qualifying result.

So we went to Abu Dhabi with a good feeling from the car. If we could put everything in place with the qualifying and get a good start, the sky was the limit to fight with the leaders for the top place.

I had one experience earlier at Abu Dhabi to be forgotten, while I had my last race with Ferrari there and there was nothing left from that car to get any kind of result.

Now everything was different. We had a pretty solid practice, we tried some new parts for the last two races, but we got it right with the set-up, as well. I was quite pleased with how it went in the qualifying sessions. Obviously, it was tight as ever, but the lap was good enough to put us to P5, and, eventually, to fourth from there on, as Vettel got a penalty afterwards.

Then next on the agenda it was up to us to get a good start. I was fired up already going to the installion lap, while I felt, everything went so strongly in the practise start. Then we got the launch perfectly in place, and I was in front of Webber and Maldonado before reaching the second gear.

Hamilton had more speed, no question about that, but we didn’t have any problems to follow him. It was as predicted, this could have happened already in India. If we are free to follow the leaders, we can do it. But if there are some people in between, you just cannot do it and the leaders disappear quickly from us.

This time we didn’t have to wait until the pitstop, while Hamilton had some problems and stopped. That’s how it goes in motor racing. You hope to have the quickest car, but when you have it, you have to finish the race, too. The points are shared only after the flag.

We had the lap time speed and I could control the race quite easily until the second safety car came in. Then everything was open again. I knew I had to be able to gain a gap back in the few first laps, I really went for it – and it went ok!

We knew Alonso was there to make every effort to win this one. I saw him coming closer, but, obviously, there was not that big pressure. It’s completely different to come closer compared to try to overtake a fast car in that circuit.

It was in our control until the finish, but I have to confess, it would have been much easier, if the flag had been waved 1-2 laps earlier.

Well, winning means everything for me. It was just a great feeling to clinch the first one of the season, the first one with the new team, and get the 25 points for the first time in my life.

But all in all, it was a great result especially for the team. They have worked so hard all year long. They have had some difficult moments and we all have been disappointed after feeling how close we have been to the P1 without ultimately getting it.

Now it’s done. We all have the best reason to feel happy. Hopefully we'll get more of these moments together again as soon as possible!

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A tightly fought qualifying session at the Yas Marina Circuit saw Kimi Räikkönen net a fine fifth position on the grid whilst Romain Grosjean took tenth for tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05. Q: P5, 1:41.260. FP3: P9, 1:43.184
“Qualifying was good. The car hasn’t felt fantastic all weekend but we decided we weren’t going to change the car’s set-up from where it was for the last race. It was the right choice because in the end the circuit came to us in qualifying where the car was the best it has been so far here. We’ll give tomorrow our best shot; Let’s see if we can make a good start to get right behind the Red Bulls, and then we’ll see what happens after that.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
“Overall a good performance from the team.”

How do you assess today’s qualifying performance?
“We are happy with our achievements today, however we could have possibly managed even more with both drivers. Fifth on the grid is very good for Kimi and means we should be well placed for tomorrow. Romain was looking set for a strong lap too, matching Kimi for the first two sectors, but he lost half a second on the final sector; we’ll be looking at what went wrong there.”

Where do you think the car should be on race pace?
“As has been the trend this season, we’re confident in terms of where our race pace should be relative to our opposition. We completed a promising long run on Friday afternoon; we have no problems or issues with tyre wear, warm-up, or anything like that so there are no reasons why we should not have a good evening tomorrow.”

Do we fear being stuck behind other cars as in the Indian Grand Prix?
“We’ve qualified further up the order with Kimi which should certainly help his race. Overtaking is slightly easier here, however Romain will have his work cut out. That said, he completed some nice overtaking moves last time out, so let’s hope for the same here.”

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A closely fought qualifying session at the Buddh International Circuit saw Kimi Räikkönen take seventh position on the grid whilst Romain Grosjean was just edged out of the top ten session, qualifying in eleventh place for tomorrow’s Indian Grand Prix.

Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05. Q: P7, 1:26.236. FP3: P5, 1:26.209
"We changed the car after this morning’s session and we were quite confident heading in to qualifying. Unfortunately, we didn’t seem to have any grip this afternoon so it was much more difficult than we thought. I’m quite disappointed to be starting from seventh as I thought we had a much better car than that."

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
"It’s going to be a tricky race to move forwards."

How do you assess today’s qualifying performance?
"It was a disappointing result. Kimi had a very good session in the morning and we were looking forward to a strong qualifying. Unfortunately, neither driver felt they had the grip levels they had enjoyed in the morning. Romain reported poor overall grip in all corners, whereas Kimi had issues with the low speed corners - a nervous car on entry and poor traction on exit - which are typical comments made about a car which is lacking in all round grip."

Where do you think the car should be on race pace?
"Qualifying seventh behind two Red Bulls, two McLarens and two Ferraris shows that we have the fourth fastest car here. We will do what we can in the race but we’ve seen very low tyre degradation and overtaking is difficult due to the circuit layout and DRS setup."

What strategies do the tyres allow?
"We think one or two stops will be the preferred strategies and will work tonight to see which will suit us best."

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It’s My Party

I’m travelling to India for the first time. My feeling is great. I had my birthday last week and it was one of those memorable ones, again.

Personally I would now like to thank all my fans for those nice things you have sent to me to celebrate my birthday. It’s nice to be supported in such a amazingly inventive way, like you all have done!

Now we are preparing ourselves to the Indian Grand Prix. Obviously, it is a brand new place for me, but it shouldn’t be a problem to learn the place and get things going on as smoothly as possible.

At least, there were no problems in Korea, which was the first new circuit for me during this campaign.

We started working with the exhaust system in Korea. Now it’s race number two with it, and we hope to get more and more out of it until the end of the season. There are some other new parts, as well. The team is really pushing hard to give us a competitive car for the last four races.

We know this circuit will be very dusty and slippery in the beginning. The layout looks quite interesting, so I’m looking forward to get first grips with it.

Now we have been in third position since Monza. Lately we haven’t had the speed to fight for the podiums, but we have not given up anything.

We go to every race to do our very best. We are not expecting any favours from anybody, but we rely on our own work. When we are able to get everything right in the car, it should be enough to fight for the top places, too.

First of all we need to have a good and solid Friday, then a warm Saturday morning without any major problems – and after that we attack the qualifying session. Without a good speed in Q3, it seems you can forget the fight for the podium places.

It would be meaningless to set any targets. We just have to keep working as hard as we possibly can to score strong points in the both championships and see what happens from there.

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Those Were The Days

So it¹s four races to go in this season, there are as much as hundred points to gain and we are now 48 behind the leaders.

It¹s a tough call in the championship, for sure. However, I have experienced the similiar kind of situations previously; sometimes it has not been easy at all, but we still managed to get through some how.

Today you never could know beforehand what could happen in motor racing tomorrow.

At least I can promise to all you fans, we will give it our best shot! Right now it doesn¹t look like we could be catching Vettel or Alonso, but we will try as long as it¹s possible.

We got some important new parts to Korean Grand Prix. I had never tested them before, so it was pretty interesting weekend all way through. It was not the easiest of races. We got the car working better and better, but there was not enough speed in the race ­ for that circuit, any way.

I was pleased with the speed in qualifying. It was not our best lap of the season, but it was good enough to get us a decent position in the starting grid. The start was good and I had my chance to win a place. Then I had to back off, and, obviously, that was it.

After that we raced for the fifth place. We had some rough time behind Hamilton, but finally we got some clean air and managed to seal our P5 for the rest of the race.

I felt the new exhaust system giving more potential to the performance. However, this was the debut for it, so it¹s natural we need some time to optimise it and get more out of it in the future.

Obviously, it will depend on the circuit as well. Some places suit better, some not that good. So hopefully we get more out of the system in the next race in India.

India will be a new place for me, like Korea was. I didn¹t have any problems to get acquinted with that circuit, so I don¹t expect it to become an issue in India, either.

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Kimi Räikkönen took fifth while Romain Grosjean finished seventh in a fast-paced and intense Korean Grand Prix today. Kimi maintains third position in the Drivers’ Championship on 167 points; 42 from Fernando Alonso ahead and with an increased 14 point buffer to Lewis Hamilton behind. The team remains fourth in the Constructors’ Championship on 255 points; 29 behind McLaren and 119 in front of Mercedes.

- Both drivers started on Pirelli’s super soft compound tyres.
- Kimi pitted for his first set of soft rubber on lap 14, his second on lap 35.

Kimi Räikkönen, P5, E20-05
"I think this was about where we should have been today. The yellow flags at the start didn’t help when we were fighting with Felipe [Massa] but even so we didn’t quite have the speed to match the Red Bulls and Ferraris. We also lost quite a bit of time behind Lewis [Hamilton] – mainly because the new exhaust system means you lose a little bit of power so it was hard to get past – but with a few more practice sessions I’m sure we’ll learn a lot more to be able to improve it. I was pretty much on my own at the end but we had to keep pushing to maintain position and it wasn’t so easy. The gap to Sebastian [Vettel] in the Championship is quite big now so it will be very difficult to catch him, but we’ll keep pushing all the way.”

Eric Boullier, Team Principal
"We knew we would not be fighting for the win here, and fifth for Kimi was the maximum we could have achieved today. We scored a good tally of points in the Constructors’ Championship and although third position is slowly edging away from us with just four races left now we’re not ready to give up. It was good to see Romain drive very sensibly despite all the pressure that is on his shoulders; I think he is learning from this experience and it will only make him a stronger driver. Kimi’s racecraft was impressive as usual; his battle with Lewis [Hamilton] showed real class and he was maybe unlucky not to have been closer to the leading pack after being held up for so long. We will have the Coandă exhausts on both cars in India which should help us in our fight.”


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A closely fought qualifying session at the Korea International Circuit saw Kimi Räikkönen clinch fifth position whilst using the team’s new Coandă exhaust system, while team-mate Romain Grosjean with start in seventh place on the grid for tomorrow’s Korean Grand Prix.

Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05. Q: P5, 1:37.625. FP3: P5, 1:38.666
“Qualifying was okay and I think we did the best we could have done. We tried some different things on the car over the weekend and qualified in a reasonably good position, but of course you always want to go faster. The new exhaust system feels good; you do lose a little horsepower from it but it’s better on the aero side and you can’t get something for nothing. The gap to the cars at the front is not too much so we’ll try to do what we can tomorrow.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
“It looks like our new package is working as it should.”

How do you assess today’s qualifying performance?
“We’re reasonably happy with today’s performance and it looks like our new package is working as it should. We’ve clearly taken a step forward and getting both cars solidly into Q3 is satisfying.”
How did the new Coandă exhaust system work?
“We have made clear performance gains and there’s still further improvement to come from it once we have optimised the set-up. Kimi had great pace in Q1 to go through with a single run on the soft tyre whereas Romain needed a set of the super softs to be sure of getting into Q2, but from then on we were confident of getting both cars into Q3. The advantage from the new Coandă exhaust system on Kimi’s car confirms that we will run it on both for the next race.”

How do the different tyre compounds perform here?
“After some difficulties with front tyre graining yesterday we now have both the soft and super soft compounds working well. We’ve seen track improvement and have also found a better set-up to make improvements in this area. Pirelli say one stop is possible, which is something we’ll have a good close look at.”

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Eight Days A Week

It's a busy time to be a Grand Prix driver; two races in eight days. We just finished the very tricky weekend in Japan and are now preparing ourselves for a brand new challenge of the Korean Grand Prix.

As I said before going to Japan, whatever we achieved in Suzuka before, doesn¹t help us this time. Unfortunately that¹s how it was.

We had to work really hard to get something out of the Japanese Grand Prix. It all went wrong on Friday. We lost most of the track time to get set-up work done in a right and preplanned way. After some major changes for Saturday, we found the speed in the qualifying, but then I pushed a little bit too hard in the last flying lap, missed it in the Spoon Curve, and lost a starting position in the second row of the grid.

The race was one of the most difficult ones during this season. Suzuka is a narrow circuit and if you miss the speed, there is nothing else to do, but look at the mirrors and try to defend your position to take home some points.

Well, we managed to get P6 and eight points again, like in Singapore. Vettel had the speed of his own and he got close to Alonso in the championship, so there are now two people, we have to beat in next few races to get closer to the top.

I've never visited Korea before. I¹ve seen a Korean Grand Prix only on TV, so there is more than usual to do, to get the understanding, how the car goes there.

We will have some interesting upgrades. I wish the best from them. Hopefully they work well and we have a nice and clean practise to test them enough.

As always it¹s interesting to go and have a race in a new circuit. You never know beforehand, what will happen, but I have a good feeling, it should not be that bad for our team. Let's wait and see, what is the speed of the car for the Korean Grand Prix.

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Kimi Räikkönen came home a solid sixth, maintaining his third position in the Drivers’ Championship. The team remains fourth in the Constructors’ Championship with increased gaps of 103 points to Mercedes behind and 24 to Ferrari ahead.

- Kimi pitted for his first set of hard compound tyres on lap 13, then his second on lap 30.

Kimi Räikkönen, P6, E20-05
"Sixth wasn’t the result we were hoping for but unfortunately we didn’t have the speed to do better today. The start was very tight ; I was alongside Fernando [Alonso] straight away and he kept moving further across until there was nowhere left go. We lost some time there and our second pit stop wasn’t the best, so overall it was quite a difficult race. The good thing is we still managed to score points to stay in touch in the championship."

Eric Boullier, Team Principal
"Obviously, it hasn’t gone as well as we expected. We could see in Singapore, when Romain was back on track, that the other drivers were putting some pressure on him at the start. Here it was a little bit easier, but he made a small mistake misjudging his pace compared with Mark, which was a bit higher. I think he has made some progress, but it’s unfortunate that this has happened again in these circumstances. With Kimi, the car’s pace was not as good as we were expecting. Starting seventh we had higher hopes, but if you don’t have the pace completely it doesn’t work well. We couldn’t put everything together in order to make his race more successful and gain more places."

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Kimi Räikkönen will start the Japanese Grand Prix from P8 on the grid after Saturday’s qualifying session at Suzuka. Kimi span on his fast lap.

Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05. Q : P8, 1:32.208. FP3 : P12, 1:33.224
“I spun. I was on a good lap and I was pushing - maybe a little too hard – and lost the rear. It’s a shame as the car feels the best it has all weekend. If the car’s good tomorrow we should be able to move forwards. Let’s see what happens.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director :
“Not bad but we could have done better.”

How do you assess today’s qualifying performance ?
“We had the pace to get both cars further up the grid. Kimi spun off on a new set of tyres which hampered his progress and Romain didn’t have a great first sector on his qualifying lap so he could have maybe been a place higher, but overall, it’s been a reasonable weekend so far.”

How are we looking for the race ?
“We’re comfortable with the E20’s performance on a full fuel load and over long runs so we’re looking forward to the race and hopeful that we can gain positions from where we start. Suzuka is pretty demanding on the tyres and we have shown well in this area previously, so there’s certainly potential.”

How do the different tyre compounds perform here ?
“We know these tyres pretty well. For qualifying there was a reasonable difference in pace, but for the race it’s likely to be more even.”

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The House of the Rising Sun

Well, we've been struggling a bit to gets things going on our way in the last few races. This is one of the tightest championhips I've ever been with and while you don¹t get everything nicely together during the race weekend, you cannot expect the best results, either.

In Monza and in Singapore we¹ve lost some ground to the leaders in the drivers¹ championship. Obviously, my main goal is get closer to the top and bring good points to team, as well, but one thing is for sure ­ we won¹t give it up and we will fight until the very end.

Usually coming to Japan has meant the the finish of the season being very close, but not anymore. We have still six more races to go.

For me Suzuka is one of the circuits I really enjoy, as being that type of racing circuit from the good old times. It's a track, where you have to have a well balanced and solid car to go through all those different kind of corners. The 130R is always a challenge and there are many more alike.

Winning in Suzuka 2005 was one of my best ever races, but it didn't matter that much, as the championship was lost a race earlier in Brazil. Hopefully we got it right again this time, while it really counts!

We should get some new parts there, hopefully the weather stays also good, while setting up the car the way I like it depends much on the weather and on the circumstances. We know the speed is there in our car. We just have to find the right set-up to maximise it every time.

We will give it our best shot to be on the podium, but the races are going to get more and more difficult with other teams constantly pushing with new development parts. Obviously, we have to make a step forward from Singapore, where we were nowhere to fight for top places.

As usual it's impossible right now to predict how our car goes in the next race. We have to wait until Friday practise. Then we know more.

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Sitting on a Dock of the Bay

Well, it was my third visit to Singapore, and the first time I left the Marina Bay circuit with some points in the pocket. P6 is better than nothing, but, obviously, while we lost seven points more to the leaders, there is no reason to be happy with the result.

It was the same story we had in Monza two weeks earlier. We knew on Friday, we lack some speed from the car. It made the weekend very tricky on our side, again. The lowering temperatures of the night race didn't help, either.

The layout of the street circuit makes it very tricky to pass people in this race. Simply there is no place to have a real go and try to overtake slower car. Obviously, only with a good qualifing session you would have a good place to fight for the podium.

We lost the game in qualifying. The second set of new supersoft tyres didn’t work that well and left us out of Q3.

The race itself was a boring one. I spent most of the time behind Mercedes cars. There was no way to pass them. It was just a matter of being patient and wait until the pitstops or something else happening to them.

The first safety-car situation hurt us, too. We got something back from the second SC, and, we could have had one place better result, but I hate to speculate, while you cannot change the race anymore.

We really need some more speed to fight for the better positions – especially in qualifying. To go from P3 to last six races is no giving any favours to us. It’s so tight pack around us and while the leader is getting more points compared to us, that doesn’t make our life any easier.

Let's wait and see, what we are able to achieve in Suzuka. There will be new parts, but we will have to wait until the first practise on Friday morning to learn, how the car feels back there.

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Kimi Räikkönen fought back from twelfth on the grid to maintain his third position in the Drivers’ Championship with a battling sixth place in the Singapore Grand Prix. Romain Grosjean finished close behind in seventh after a gruelling race with two safety car periods and a number of retirements. The team remains fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, 95 points ahead of Mercedes in fifth and 14 behind Ferrari in third.

- Both drivers started on Pirelli’s super soft compound.
- Kimi pitted for his first set of soft compound tyres on lap 13, and his second set of softs just as the first safety car came out on lap 32.

Kimi Räikkönen, P6, E20-05
After the result in qualifying today’s race was not too bad, but I think we had a chance to do a bit better. We weren’t quick enough to be fighting for the podium but the first safety car didn’t help us and maybe we could have gained an extra place without that. We were definitely faster than Michael [Schumacher] and Nico [Rosberg] but we ended up stuck behind them for most of the race which was frustrating. It’s so hard to overtake here that you have to rely on passing people in the pit stops or on someone making a mistake. I’m still third in the Drivers’ Championship but we’ve got some improvements to make for the next races to be fighting with the cars in front. Hopefully we can make a step forward in Japan and take it from

Eric Boullier, Team Principal
We had a difficult start to the weekend but the team did a good job to recover. Qualifying was frustrating after both cars showed strong pace in Q1 and the first part of Q2 but ultimately fell short of what we were hoping for in the end. The race pace from both cars was good and although we were unlucky with the first safety car our strategy worked well. After a difficult weekend for us Kimi is still third in the Drivers’ Championship and we have not lost too much ground to McLaren and Red Bull in the Constructors’ standings so that is a big positive. The fact that we feel our lack of performance here was quite unexpected shows our ambition and our priority for the rest of the season will be to make sure we’re in the sort of positions we know we can achieve right from the start of each weekend.

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Kimi Räikkönen will start the Singapore Grand Prix from P12 on the grid, after a hot and sticky qualifying session at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. The grid results mask significant improvements found in the E20 overnight, illustrated by Romain setting the fastest time in Q1 and the fourth fastest time in Q2.

Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05. Q : P12, 1:48.261. FP3 : P5, 1:48.865
“The car was much better overall today than it was yesterday. We were quick with the used tyres but for some reason struggled for grip with the new ones in the second session and we were actually slightly slower. For sure P12 is not the position we wanted ; we don’t seem to have the speed to challenge the leaders here but the car is definitely quicker than that. We’ll see what we can do in the race.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director :
“We’d found a lot of improvements in the car so we’re disappointed with qualifying.”

How do you assess today’s qualifying performance ?
“We’re disappointed with qualifying as we were hoping for a lot better than we achieved. We improved the car dramatically overnight and through today’s practice session. Romain was two tenths slower in Q3 than he had been in Q2, but we could all see where most of that time was lost on his lap. Kimi was slower on a fresh set of tyres than he was on a scrubbed set, but it’s not immediately apparent why this was the case. He looked in excellent shape with his scrubbed run.”

The car seemed to be better than yesterday – why was this ?
“We found a much better setup in our analysis overnight and we continued in that direction through FP3, steadily improving the car with a further step made going into qualifying. Both drivers were pretty happy with the car at the end of practice today.”

How do the different tyre compounds perform here ?
“The super soft compound is a lot faster than the soft tyre and it will need a big difference in degradation for the soft to be the preferred option in the race.”


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A Hard Day's Night

I have had two nights at Singapore racing a Grand Prix. Obviously, I¹ve got zero points so far, but I did really enjoy both weekends in Marina Bay circuit area. For me Singapore represents one of the best new places we¹ve got in the F1 calendar.

What makes it so special, is the timing of the start, for sure. It¹s nice to do your routines in a different time compared to usual. Go to bed in very early hours, sleep until afternoon, eat when you normally start packing your gear in the paddock etc.

I don¹t understand some people making a big fuss of the different time for racing. While we put the helmets on and start the race, there isn¹t anything different with the feeling you get in the car. They have an excellent light system all around the circuit, it¹s made of normal streets, so it¹s bumpy, it's very physical and it¹s great fun to drive there.

I did this Grand Prix twice with Ferrari. It was that first ever night race in the F1 history in 2008. We were in good position until the pit stop, which was caused by a safety car situation, and we lost it there. I was fighting to get some points, the car was fine, but I crashed to the wall racing in the fifth place.

Well, I¹ve heard I still have got the official lap record from that race. Actually I finished the race in 2009, but it was one of those races with a uncompetitive car we had back then.

Like always, there is no use to speculate, how we will do this time. I haven¹t run a single metre with this car in that circuit, so we will have to wait until Friday afternoon¹s FP1 to get the first grips with the place.

It¹s a street circuit. It should be hot weather even at night and while we use the two softest compounds of Pirelli tyres, it should be good for our car.

Obviously, we had a nice strong weekend at Valencia back in June. Hopefully the similarities with the circuit will bring also a similiar chance to fight for the top places in Singapore. The most important thing is to earn some good points for the team ­ and to myself, as well, for the championship.

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Nowhere Man

No doubt, it was one of most difficult weekends for us during the whole season. We knew it before travelling to Monza and, obviously, it proved to be the case, while we started the FP1 on Friday morning.

Very simply we were lacking the speed, or - to be precise - picking up the speed fast enough compared to the other front-runners after coming from those few corners.

The low downforce levels demanded by the layout of the Monza circuit did not suit our car. We could not hang on with the leaders in the straigths and it was tricky even with the DRS on.

Obviously, it could have been a disaster, but at the end of the day, we left the Italian Grand Prix with a fifth place finish and, most of all, with ten more points in the championship table. After the qualifying we hoped for the sixth spot in the race at the best, and got one better, so it was not too bad at all.

Mainly our focus is to cut the point gap to the leader, who is Fernando Alonso. We managed to cut it by 15 points in Spa. This time we lost 5 points to him. It’s never good to lose more at this time of the season, but it’s still possible to catch him. So we shall try our very best, that’s 100% certain!

Actually we gained one place after Italian Grand Prix, but, for me, it’s the same, if we are second, third or wherever, as long as we are in this tightly packed group of the pursuers behind Alonso.

Obviously, we would need good points from the next few races. It will be very interesting to see, how it goes, while all the teams will have a completely different aerodynamics package for Singapore. I have never scored points at that circuit before, but it should suit our car quite well. So let’s wait and look forward to what we can achieve from that exotic night race.

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Lotus F1 Team finished their pre-season testing with Kimi Räikkönen setting the fastest time of the day at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona today. Kimi’s 1min 22.030secs lap was the fastest set over the two weeks testing at the 4.7 km circuit. He also completed the furthest distance today, with 121 laps.

Fast facts:

Track: Barcelona, Spain, 4.7km
Chassis: E20-01
Weather: Sunny, air 9-20°C, track 11-24°C
Programme: System checks, temperature monitoring, aero evaluation, set-up changes, race distance run.
Laps Completed: 121
Classification: 1st, 1’22"030
Interruptions: Red flag in the afternoon.
What’s next? The team will head to Melbourne, Australia for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 18.

Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus F1 Team Race Driver:

“I was happy with today’s running. We didn’t have any major issues so it was certainly better than yesterday. Everything worked, we tried a lot of set-ups on the car and it all came together well. It was a long time in the car today but I feel fine. It was cooler today so the tyres didn’t work as well as otherwise but everything was okay. Of course, the fastest time at the end of the day looks good but no-one will know how fast any of the cars are until we get to qualifying at Albert Park. All the changes we have made over testing have been improving the car, so we’ll have to see what happens in Melbourne in a couple of weeks’ time. I’m feeling positive.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:

“We’ve had a good, productive day to conclude our pre-season test programme. After the interruptions of yesterday we made some set-up changes overnight which immediately made Kimi feel more comfortable in the car as the balance was much more to his liking. We then spent the rest of the morning running on medium and then soft tyres, steadily improving the car. Despite having missed a test we are in good shape heading to Melbourne. We’ve completed two race distances and the E20 has proved reliable, easy to set-up and predictable in its handling with both drivers reporting they are happy.”

Eric Boullier,Team Principal:

"After the disappointment of last week, this test was crucial and I think we did a good job. First of all, we’ve been able to confirm that the changes made to the car fixed our front suspension problems. We were confident that the redesign was well conceived and well executed, but we have demonstrated the integrity of the modified part. It is a tribute to the all team, which has been working amazingly hard over the last few days in order to fly the E20 on time to Barcelona. Despite the rain and a few technical glitches, we managed to learn more about the new car. We now have a better understanding of it, and have a few positive setup directions that we can take further. Moreover, both drivers seem happy with the balance and tyre degradation. We are cautiously optimistic for the future and now looking forward to Melbourne."