Kimi Raikkonen returns to F1 with Lotus F1 Team

[Anelise]

welcome!
Kimi Raikkonen Post Race Interview China 2012 BBCF1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax9VKCCqKJo

[Kriss]

[quote="kimiteamlotus"]Have you news about this documentary?

It was made by Redbull and it was supposed to come out last year but their contract expired so...

[kimiteamlotus]

Thanks Suomileijona and Kriss.

[sleenster]

Another problem is that Kimi said Lotus brought an updated package to Shanghai but it didn't work so essentially they are still using the same car as in Australia. And they'll have to use it in Bahrain too. I guess the problems with Lotus developing their car throughout the season are starting even earlier than usual this year.

[Green Flag]

Another problem is that Kimi said Lotus brought an updated package to Shanghai but it didn't work so essentially they are still using the same car as in Australia. And they'll have to use it in Bahrain too. I guess the problems with Lotus developing their car throughout the season are starting even earlier than usual this year.

I wonder if they will try the updates again in Bahrain to see if they work better at that track?

[Kriss]

They said the upgrades didn't work because of the colder weather, so they should try them in Bahrein.
They should practice the pit stops as well


According to this Kimi was supposed to run 28 laps on used medium tyres
http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?page ... 20Grosjean

[Mar]

They said the upgrades didn't work because of the colder weather, so they should try them in Bahrein.
They should practice the pit stops as well


According to this Kimi was supposed to run 28 laps on used medium tyres
http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?page ... 20Grosjean

It doesn't matter how many times they repeat it, what they did during the race was not their original plan. If you are really going to do a two-stopper, you don't do your two stops with the 3-stoppers to make the 3rd stint half of the race, and even less with used tyres. I don't buy it.

If it had been planned as a two stopper, the only 2 reasons I can think about to pit earlier the second time are:

1.Problem with the tyres. But if that were the case and they only managed 18 laps with new mediums during the 2nd stint, it was evident they were not going to survive 28 laps with used mediums. So, nope, this was not the case.

2.Traffic. Also not the case. Kimi was on clean air when he pitted and came out on traffic stuck behind Massa. So, nope, this is also not the case.

I think they were going to do a 3 stopper but when they timed so badly both stops and Kimi went back on track behind Massa, they lost all their chances to the points. Their only chance from that moment on was to try to make it to the end with that set of tyres. It was a huge gamble but they were out of the points anyway.

Of course, the other chance would have been to pass Massa, but:
1. It would have meant only one point anyway.
2. There was not a chance that Räikkönen could pass anybody today on track, and that was clear already since yesterday. For whatever reason (set-up, whatever) his car was fast in S1, but he was slower in S3 so there was no chance for him to pass anybody in the DRS area. Since it was impossible to pass in any other area... no chance.

As a matter of fact, one of the reasons Kimi managed to stay as 2nd for so long even with those old tyres was that the car he had behind him was Vettel, who also had problems in S3 all weekend.

[Suomileijona]

I just read Vettel's interview. He had hoped to get help from Kimi, but he had to pass Kimi by force. He had hoped that Kimi could hold other cars behind him, but there was no luck for Kimi and no luck for Vettel either.

Yeah, Kimi had a very bad strategy and as I have read Finnish F1-forums, so many people are laughing... But I'm sure that Kimi's showtime will come in near future.

I really don't get it: why should Kimi help Vettel, or anybody? Everyone drives for them shelves! Or what?

I dind't know that the Kimi documentary was made by Red Bull! I thought that Kimi's frieds were making it... Looks like we will never see it . Pity!

Anelise thank you for the video and the other thank you for the info! I hope that Lotus has learned their lesson! I wish they wouldn't make risky strategies anymore. The season is still "young" and Kimi will have opportunities to win this season, if they are able to develop the cars during the season...

[Kriss]

Mar, thanks for your analisys
I thinks it was more than a gamble it was rather suicide

[Kriss]

James Allison - “We are going to start scoring points in a decent way very soon”

Technical Director reflects on a mixed weekend in Shanghai, and looks ahead to the challenges of Round 4 of the Formula 1 World Championship in Bahrain

What are your thoughts after the Chinese Grand Prix?

I’m sure people are going to get bored of us saying ‘so near, yet so far’ or ‘if only’ or ‘it’s going to come good’. Nevertheless this weekend just reinforces the feeling we’ve had in the first two races, that there is a lot of goodness to come this season with this car. We are going to start scoring points in a decent way very soon. We were very, very close to it in China and although we didn’t quite make it stick, we chose the right strategy for the day and we very nearly turned it into an excellent result. The only thing that undid us I think was probably not going quite long enough in the second stint with Kimi, which left him with just a little bit too much to do at the end. There are good positives to take, though. Both cars were well balanced throughout the race. Both drivers were competitive. We were well beaten by Mercedes, but so was everyone else.

Why weren’t we able to get a handle on the upgrade package taken to China?


We weren’t able to unlock the pace we thought we had brought with the upgrades and that was frustrating. It was a very awkward weekend and not just for us. We were dealing with a tyre that was just popping in and out of the edge of its operating window from a temperature point of view. That made it ever-so-hard to make coherent decisions about whether what you had done to the car was a good thing or a bad thing. That was confusing for us, but we pulled everything reasonably back together. The car was very well balanced in the race. You could see from Romain’s results that it ran its tyres very nicely. You could also see from Kimi’s first stint, where he was right on Button’s bumper for the whole of that period, that our wear and degradation on the option was strong. We very nearly made a two-stop race stick for a strong result.

Should Bahrain present a better opportunity to unlock the pace?

We go to Bahrain knowing that we’re going to have more consistent temperatures with the tyres! That will allow us to assess the upgrade package with a more level set of conditions. We’ll get as much of it on as we can prove is good. There are a couple of new bits coming for the car, such as a new pushrod. We will benefit from more time with the bits we took to China but ultimately didn’t use for the race.

What challenges does the Bahrain track present for the E20?

We’re racing back on the original configuration as last used in 2009. It’ll be the first proper test of our braking systems for the year. We don’t anticipate any problems, but it will be one where we need to pay a little bit more attention to wear and temperature. It’s also a circuit where we need good traction – turn 1 for example and turn 10 especially as it’s very slow speed. We have identified this as an area where the E20 needs some work so it will be interesting to see how we perform.

How do the team prepare for a track with high braking demands?

We do track comparisons, so from knowing the demands of Jerez for example we can calculate how the brakes should work at Bahrain. We do work on a brake dyno, where we simulate the loads which the brakes will experience at a circuit and this helps evaluate wear and cooling. We don’t think there will be any dramas; of course we could get a surprise. Last time out in Bahrain, the track was longer – meaning fewer laps – so there were less occurrences of heavy braking zones, and more time between them.

After the recent protest decision is the team developing a ‘double-D’ RS?

We are at the point of making estimates of how big the gain might be and assessing the difficulty in actually realising that gain. It’s anyone’s guess how powerful any existing system is, but that’s not the issue; it’s how powerful we think we can make any system which we can develop now we know how the rules can be interpreted. There are systems like Mercedes has, but the interpretation allows other permutations too. So it could be an interesting time for developments in this area.

Read more: http://f1coffee.proboards.com/index.cgi ... z1sCQoh9t9

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

[Soren]

Hola folks I hope I can post my race reviews in this thread. As you know they are centered on Kimi so it should be right on topic.

Here is my analysis of the Chinese GP. Including my musings on Kimis race strategy - the hot potato it is.
The Podium That Got Away: http://f1bias.com/2012/04/16/chinese-gp ... -got-away/

[NICO_4EVER]

I really don't get it: why should Kimi help Vettel, or anybody? Everyone drives for them shelves! Or what?

We all know Vettel's good sense of humor.

Of cource Kimi wouldn't have let anyone pass him without his problems. In the case if Vettel would have been the only one to overtake Kimi, he would have "helped" Vettel by blocking other cars.

In 2007 at Fuji, for example, Heikki could have let Kimi pass him for more points, but in the end - as you said - everyone drives for themselves.

[Kriss]

Soren, brilliant

[reppo]

James Allison admits they made Kimi's second pit stop too early. Rosberg did it six laps later and his tyres lasted until the end of the race. At least now they know how the tyres will wear.

[reppo]

Interestinly it is good for Slade Kimi does not gab too much:
http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/f1/uutiset.s ... aatotyossa (in Finnish)

Räikkönen's quietness benefits setup work
Posted on 04.15.2012 09:29 (updated 9:31)

Race engineer Mark Slade praises Kimi Räikkönen's skills in improvement of the car's settings.

Slade has worked as race engineer for Raikkonen in McLaren and Lotus.

- Kimi's feedback is excellent. He is one of the most punctual drivers with whom I have ever worked with. He makes my job very easy. He tells you what is wrong with the car and I will offer a solutions to fix it. We will together decide which is the approach we choose, and then implement it, Slade said on MTV3's live TV broadcast from Shanghai paddock.

Taciturnity is a distinct advantage when improvements must be found in the car.

- With Kimi we get the car to the best setup faster than with some of the other drivers, who speaks perhaps more, but are not able to analyze at the same precision, what in the car is right or wrong, Slade says.