Kimi Raikkonen returns to F1 with Lotus F1 Team

[reppo]

Kimi has no secrets
http://www.ts.fi/moottoriurheilu/f1/310078.html

Räikkönen's fairness delighted Grosjean

Turun Sanomat 11.2.2012 22:24:13.

After two years break from F1 racing Romain Grosjean got a great gift from the first actual test session. The pace was right - and in addition natural relations to his new team mate Kimi Räikkönen came right away.

Räikkönen's contract with the Lotus was published on 28 November. Few days later GP2 champion Grosjean was hired to partner Finnish world champion.

At that time, he told L'Equipe newspaper that he knows Kim's image and is nervous, how the man really is.

After Jerez test session Grosjean confessed that his impression of Räikkönen was immediately changed, when they briefly exchanged opinions about the test during the day.

- It was a really pleasant surprise, how Kimi is. I wondered a little what kind of relationship we will have, but even if we are not close, we get along very well and Kimi feels like a nice guy from the beginning. When I ask, he answers. It feels really nice at this point, Grosjean praised.

Raikkonen was driving on Wednesday, but when the floor fell apart on the curb of the track, the Finnish driver walked to the bus, where Grosjean was spending time.

- When Kimi came to the bus, I asked, was there a problem in the car. He replied that yes, and then we talked about the car and his experiences of it, Grosjean explained.

Telemetry in place

On Wednesday evening Grosjean became acquainted with telemetry of Räikkönen, who was already on his way home, to know at what point Kimi brakes and where he accelerates.

- I did not see anything strange, and then when I was driving on Thursday, our telemetry were nearly identical. It is very encouraging when our driving styles seems to be so close to each other.

On Friday, Grosjean focused on longer stints on different rubber compounds.

Raikkonen drove 192 laps in two days, while Grosjean got 212 laps. Be course Raikkonen drove on filming session 22 laps, mileage is pretty much the same. Most laps in Jerez drove Bruno Senna of Williams, who got 249 rounds.

The car is better

- This is definitely better than our last year's car, which I drove in Abu Dhabi's and Brazil's practice session. On the last season team learned how to improve different things. The car is now immediately good to drive. F1 has never been easy to drive, but with this we can play, and it is a major asset, 25-year-old French driver praised.

Biggest challenge at this point, Grosjean says, is to understand how tyres work with the car. Pirelli's characters are still the same as last season, and in certain circuits it means finding some compromises for drivers and engineers.

Grosjean drove in 2009 seven last races with Fernando Alonso. Thus throughout his F1 career, there has always been a world champion as a team mate.

Turun Sanomat, Jerez de la Frontera

HEIKKI KULTA

[sleenster]

Thanks reppo

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97505

Lotus bosses say team atmosphere will bring out Kimi Raikkonen's best

Lotus will bring the very best out of Kimi Raikkonen, reckon team bosses Eric Boullier and Gerard Lopez, who believe the 2007 world champion is a much more dedicated team player than his past reputation suggested.

Raikkonen has impressed Lotus since joining the team for his Formula 1 comeback after two years in rallying, and was quickest on the first day of winter testing at Jerez last week.

Lopez said Lotus had found Raikkonen to be a totally different character to how he was presented during his last F1 stint.

"For most people it's probably one of the big mysteries, because you hear the hearsay and so forth, but we feel very good with him and he clearly feels at home," Lopez told AUTOSPORT.

"He smiles a lot when he's with us! But most importantly that says he feels more like part of the family."

Lopez added: "I think Kimi has a public image that honestly from what we've seen does not translate into how he really is. He's a very hard worker, very good at providing feedback, and has a good team spirit.

"Once we talked to him, once we understood why he was coming back, we really felt comfortable. If you look at what happened [at the test], nobody can say that he's not on the pace."

Boullier reckons the way Lotus works is proving ideal for Raikkonen.

"We tried to handle his personality and make sure that we don't bother him too much with too many intrusions, and he's a real racer," said Boullier.

"This team is full of proper racing people and he has fitted very well because we speak the same language.

"We are flexible, but our system is very racing-orientated, and that suits him very well."

What? As opposed to the other F1 teams who are not racing-orientated? Sometimes I have no idea what Boullier is on about

[Mar]

What? As opposed to the other F1 teams who are not racing-orientated? Sometimes I have no idea what Boullier is on about

The poor Boullier does not even really know what goes on around him , so I don't think it is so weird that he sounds... erm, I don't find the word.

[Suomileijona]

What? As opposed to the other F1 teams who are not racing-orientated? Sometimes I have no idea what Boullier is on about

The poor Boullier does not even really know what goes on around him , so I don't think it is so weird that he sounds... erm, I don't find the word.

[Mar]

Problem is that chances that he Lotus/Räikkönen marriage ends in tears is too big.

A bunch of team officials that only care about the PR BS, a team boss who's one of the drivers' manager, a team owner that makes decisions on the back of the team boss, and Räikkönen in the middle of that mess.

I hope that car is really as good as it looks and not the result of the team running on fumes to make big headlights. That would help to keep things going smoothly.

[Boudica]

Problem is that chances that he Lotus/Räikkönen marriage ends in tears is too big.

A bunch of team officials that only care about the PR BS, a team boss who's one of the drivers' manager, a team owner that makes decisions on the back of the team boss, and Räikkönen in the middle of that mess.

I hope that car is really as good as it looks and not the result of the team running on fumes to make big headlights. That would help to keep things going smoothly.

The team has certianly been getting a lot of good PR out of Kimi, they were almost hated and now people are slowly liking them again.

But there remains a lot to be skeptical about, especially with Boullier around.

So what do you think, was Kimi really on pace (since you properly know much more then the rest of us)? I personally thought his long runs were looking really good, but of course you never really know for sure what they are doing in testing.

[Suomileijona]

Problem is that chances that he Lotus/Räikkönen marriage ends in tears is too big.

A bunch of team officials that only care about the PR BS, a team boss who's one of the drivers' manager, a team owner that makes decisions on the back of the team boss, and Räikkönen in the middle of that mess.

I hope that car is really as good as it looks and not the result of the team running on fumes to make big headlights. That would help to keep things going smoothly.

The team has certianly been getting a lot of good PR out of Kimi, they were almost hated and now people are slowly liking them again.

But there remains a lot to be skeptical about, especially with Boullier around.

So what do you think, was Kimi really on pace (since you properly know much more then the rest of us)? I personally thought his long runs were looking really good, but of course you never really know for sure what they are doing in testing.

I hope that he and Lotus will be strong, of course, and I hope that Mar is wrong!! Yes, Boullier is a big question mark, he looks creepy...

[F1Fan88]

Have you been particularly impressed by Romain then?

Alan Permane: Romain drove a stonking few laps on Thursday. He had the same fuel load as Kimi, sure the track was better, there's no doubt ...

It is not gonna be an easy year for Kimi.

[Mar]

The team has certianly been getting a lot of good PR out of Kimi, they were almost hated and now people are slowly liking them again.

But there remains a lot to be skeptical about, especially with Boullier around.

So what do you think, was Kimi really on pace (since you properly know much more then the rest of us)? I personally thought his long runs were looking really good, but of course you never really know for sure what they are doing in testing.

The general consensus in the press room is that he is on pace, but many people also think the thing will end up badly.

Many people dislike the team because the have the reputation of pretending to be more than they really are. The German speaking guys around here will understand me well if I say that the words I've heard the most related to Lotus were "heiße Luft". That doesn't mean that the car must be bad or anything like that, as a matter of fact, Lotus has a good group of aerodynamists, engineers and so on. The problems are at the management level.

The talk in the paddock is that when Kimi had already signed the contract, Boullier still thought it was going to be Grosjean and Senna in 2012 (@Phil and Iceman: no articles about this, please). Looking at it calmly, the team ended up with a better line-up but Boullier is in a difficult position because he knows that everybody knows he was intentionally kept in the dark about the drivers until he could not affect the decision any longer. People are very surprised that he is still in the team (remember all those rumours about Boullier being fired this winter? that's the reason behind it).

Question is: what is Boullier going to do? what's best for the team? or what's best for him? Remember he has personal economic interests in Grosjean and add that to his injured ego.

That team has ended up already in bad terms with Kubica, Heidfeld, Petrov and Senna, in other words with all drivers who've been there...

[Boudica]

Have you been particularly impressed by Romain then?

Alan Permane: Romain drove a stonking few laps on Thursday. He had the same fuel load as Kimi, sure the track was better, there's no doubt ...

It is not gonna be an easy year for Kimi.

This is pretty interesting to know, I was wondering about fuel levels.

I ve seen a bit of concern (I wouldn't call it panic) from Kimi fans about Grosjean pace. But now that I know they were running similar fuel loads, I am not concerned at all. Kimi set his best time on the first day of testing in the first hour of the day to be exact, it was still very cold the track was completely green and the car was properly not even even setup, properly. Grosjean on the otherhand set his time on the third day when the rack was already rubbered in, more towards the middle of the day, and when the car was already setup nicely by Kimi for two days. Of course I personally dont think the best times carries that much weight in any case.
The interesting thing is the long runs, most of the team's long run pace improved by over a second on the 3rd and 4th day. But Lotus or Grosjean did not, Kimi's longer runs from day two was still faster. Kimi's long runs were (which were done on day two when the wind was really bad) comparable to Red Bull and Mclaren. Grosjean's long runs were not. This is all just speculation for course, and it has to be remembered that Grosjean is a rookie after all, he will properly improve as the season goes on.

My personal guess of the situation at the moment is that Grosjean is properly going to do alright with qualifying, but he is going to be a bit slower in the races. This is just my initial thoughts of course things might chance again at the Barcelona testing or even at Melbourne. I also think that Lotus might not be as fast as people are thinking at this moment.

[Boudica]

The team has certianly been getting a lot of good PR out of Kimi, they were almost hated and now people are slowly liking them again.

But there remains a lot to be skeptical about, especially with Boullier around.

So what do you think, was Kimi really on pace (since you properly know much more then the rest of us)? I personally thought his long runs were looking really good, but of course you never really know for sure what they are doing in testing.

The general consensus in the press room is that he is on pace, but many people also think the thing will end up badly.

Many people dislike the team because the have the reputation of pretending to be more than they really are. The German speaking guys around here will understand me well if I say that the words I've heard the most related to Lotus were "heiße Luft". That doesn't mean that the car must be bad or anything like that, as a matter of fact, Lotus has a good group of aerodynamists, engineers and so on. The problems are at the management level.

The talk in the paddock is that when Kimi had already signed the contract, Boullier still thought it was going to be Grosjean and Senna in 2012 (@Phil and Iceman: no articles about this, please). Looking at it calmly, the team ended up with a better line-up but Boullier is in a difficult position because he knows that everybody knows he was intentionally kept in the dark about the drivers until he could not affect the decision any longer. People are very surprised that he is still in the team (remember all those rumours about Boullier being fired this winter? that's the reason behind it).

Question is: what is Boullier going to do? what's best for the team? or what's best for him? Remember he has personal economic interests in Grosjean and add that to his injured ego.

That team has ended up already in bad terms with Kubica, Heidfeld, Petrov and Senna, in other words with all drivers who've been there...

Thanks Mar!

I am starting to think that the concerns might not be about Kimi's pace at all, but team politics. Of course it is interesting that Kimi would find himself in the middle of these type of politics again.
I could definitively take rally over this type of political games.

Boullier might be a bit of a loose canon, since it seems like he might be walking on thin ice.
But he still has Grosjean in his arsenal. Things could work out okay if Boullier is willing to set his ego a side after the whole Kimi spat. Atleast it seems like Kimi has top management in his corner, so this could end up in a two way battle if Boullier isn't able to let bygones be bygones.
Although I think Boullier's position in the team is properly more at stake then Kimi. But as the saying goes the best precursor of future results is to look at past behavior, and regrettably Lotus aka Renault does not have a good history. However I do think there is a bit of genuine intent to improve the team from the top top brass, so we will see.

[Kriss]

James Allison: “It’s going to be a very busy few weeks”

The car we take to Melbourne will be significantly different to the one we ran in Jerez. There’s a lot of work still to do before the season opener.

THIS WEEK BACK AT ENSTONE THE TEAM ARE FOCUSING ON THE BUILD-UP OF CHASSIS TWO TO BE USED AT THE BARCELONA TEST. IS THIS PROCESS SLIGHTLY EASIER NOW THAT WE HAVE EXPERIENCE FROM THE FIRST CHASSIS BUILD?

When you do the first chassis build of a new car there are always a couple of things that need to be re-positioned compared with where you expect them to be. When it comes to the second build you’re already aware of these elements, so it becomes a case of copying what you’ve done previously. So yes, it generally takes a little less time to do the second one than the first as you’re not having to find ways around things.

THIS YEAR’S DESIGN IS PERHAPS SLIGHTLY MORE CONVENTIONAL THAN LAST YEAR’S, PARTICULARLY WITHOUT THE FORWARD-FACING EXHAUST CONCEPT. HAS THIS ALSO HELPED MAKE THINGS EASIER IN THE BUILD PROCESS AND ON TRACK?

Not having the forward facing exhaust has definitely made the car build part of the process simpler. It’s much quicker to get the car turned around every evening and get it ready for the next day’s running because it’s a more straightforward layout. In terms of running and analysing the car on the track, there shouldn’t have been anything inherently difficult about last year’s car, but it did turn out to be quite challenging as the exhaust system created several aerodynamic issues. So in that respect the E20 is easier to work with again. This means our race engineers can fill their boots with springs, roll bars, tyre pressures, cambers, and so on; all the conventional tools in the engineer’s arsenal.

WITH SUCH AN IMMENSELY COMPLEX DESIGN AS A MODERN FORMULA 1 CAR, THE BUILD PROCESS MUST BE FAR FROM SIMPLE. DO THE TEAM HAVE A ‘HAYNES MANUAL’ STYLE GUIDE TO HELP THEM THROUGH?

Every part on the car is detailed in an assembly drawing, so typically each sub-system, like the power steering, the brakes or the front / rear suspension for example, has a drawing showing how it all bolts together and describing how it should be set up / operated. These drawings show in some detail what goes in what order. The race team then supplement the assembly information with an indexed photo library showing the best practise routing of the various cables and pipes. We don’t need to be quite as verbose perhaps as a Haynes manual, because the guys who design the car are only upstairs from the guys who are building it, so you can have some dialogue in place of documentation.

WITH SO MUCH DEVELOPMENT STILL ON GOING AT THIS EARLY STAGE OF THE SEASON, HOW DIFFERENT WILL THE E20 THAT SITS ON THE GRID IN MELBOURNE BE TO THE CAR WE’VE ALREADY SEEN AT JEREZ?

The car we take to Melbourne will be significantly different to the one we ran in Jerez. There’s a lot of work still to do before the season opener, and so many elements will change; the front wing, rear wing, side pods, pod vanes, engine cover, barge board, floor, some suspension elements, and some small brake duct features to name but a few! As always, it’s going to be a very busy few weeks.

http://www.lotusf1team.com/James-Alliso ... ml?lang=en

[reppo]

The talk in the paddock is that when Kimi had already signed the contract, Boullier still thought it was going to be Grosjean and Senna in 2012 (@Phil and Iceman: no articles about this, please). Looking at it calmly, the team ended up with a better line-up but Boullier is in a difficult position because he knows that everybody knows he was intentionally kept in the dark about the drivers until he could not affect the decision any longer. People are very surprised that he is still in the team (remember all those rumours about Boullier being fired this winter? that's the reason behind it).

According an interview of Lopez, he personally made the contract with Kimi. I got a feeling that Boullier was not involved, though Lopez never said it. Strangely he told that they (not defining who they were) had already asked Kimi plan's for 2011 as early as summer 2010, and Kimi told he probably stays in WRC, and there was not such money to get him interested. Yet at September or so, Boullier was still playing with Kimi card until Kimi told him to stop. He is weird

Question is: what is Boullier going to do? what's best for the team? or what's best for him? Remember he has personal economic interests in Grosjean and add that to his injured ego.

Team principal or personnel should never be a manager of any driver. There is direct conflict in interests. What good did it do to Kovalainen to have Briatore as his manager. Now he at least have a proper manager.

[reppo]

The team has certianly been getting a lot of good PR out of Kimi, they were almost hated and now people are slowly liking them again.

But there remains a lot to be skeptical about, especially with Boullier around.

So what do you think, was Kimi really on pace (since you properly know much more then the rest of us)? I personally thought his long runs were looking really good, but of course you never really know for sure what they are doing in testing.

If driving consistent lap times is being in pace, then he maybe is. Could someone be better in same car and conditions? Maybe, maybe not. It is impossible to just compare preseason test times, and judge how good drivers are. There has been combined statistics of all test days and fastest laps of all drivers, but it is pretty useless, since teams have their testing schedule and track condition are not the same every day. Of course Lotus did some PR laps with both Kimi and Romain to have some media attention for sponsors but the first real test is in Melbourne, when teams have they race setups and drivers have to deal with real stress on race conditions.

Lopez have stated that costs of F1 must come down, because teams are not making any money. Genii is an investment company and they are not in F1 for charity. Where does that put Boullier or Kimi for that matter. Kimi is happy when he gets behind the steering wheel and can race. He is totally unpolitical and does not want any special treatments. Good thing for Romain He can learn a lot from Kimi and Kimi doesn't care if someone wins him because of talent, but if he is won by politics he gets frustrated and leaves. I hope it doesn't get into that in Lotus.

Now Lotus bosses' are praising Kimi almost scaringly For heavens sake, where Kimi and Lotus is going, can be seen only after three of four races. So much things can change, that is Kimi going to get even into podium is still question mark. Maybe they talk like this because of sponsors, but it is too early to predict how well the season will go.

[F1Fan88]

I think Raikkonen will be in form, he may even have improved his racecraft having dealt with the differing terrains of rally the last couple years. The paddock buzz I've read suggests the Lotus does look impressive; but I wonder about their finances. They seem to have alot of their ad space covered with Genii and Unilever products. I have a hard time believing that Unilever has put big dollars out for the first shampoo sponsorship in F1. If they don't have cash flow the won't keep up the development pace.