By Editor on Saturday, November 17, 2012

Lotus F1 Team

Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen expected a tougher job in qualifying for the US Grand Prix.

Raikkonen will start the race from fourth place.

“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”, he said.

“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”.

Romain Grosjean initially qualified fourth but will start from ninth after a gearbox change.

“I will start P9, but this is racing. The guys did an awesome job to change the gearbox between FP3 and Qualifying – which was a really tight turnaround – but we’re still in the top ten even with the penalty so that’s a good result”, he said.

“Apart from the gearbox problem, it’s all gone very well today. We’ve understood a difficult and evolving circuit and found a good set-up. I’m happy to be where I am and at least I will be on the good side of the track for the start tomorrow”.

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