'I had a sleep' admits Raikkonen

By on Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen says he slept while Lotus fixed a gearbox problem on his Lotus E21.

The 2007 world champion completed only four laps early on in the day before the team discovered a problem with his gearbox. He returned to the circuit with a couple of hours of running remaining.

"I had a sleep," Raikkonen said when asked what he did during the wait.

"Yes, it’s frustrating and no driver wants to hang around a race track with nothing to do."

Raikkonen nonetheless doesn't feel that the missed running is a setback, as Lotus missed the whole of the second test in 2012.

"When we did get out on track we were immediately the third fastest car out there so that’s always promising," he said.

"The day was not what we hoped to have but Romain [Grosjean] will test the car for the next two days then I will test the car again next week. I’d far rather have these problems in testing than in the races. Everyone is busy in the factory making new parts and we will hopefully head to Australia with all the problems ironed out. Last year we missed all of the second test in Barcelona and the car was still pretty good for the season. It’s frustrating not to get much running today, but it’s not the end of the world."


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