ZitatExclusive Romain Grosjean Q&A: I’m ready to deliver for Lotus
Q: After one year as team mate to Kimi Raikkonen, how is the chemistry? RG: He doesn’t speak much, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not a good team mate. We are working pretty well together. He has the experience and that is good. Other than that, everything is open in the team.
Q: How about your driving styles? When you say that Kimi has the experience, does that mean that his set-up findings are also valid for you? RG: Our driving styles are different, but the feelings and the comments are pretty much the same, so the engineers know that if something is working for one the likelihood that it is also working for the other is very high. That makes things a lot easier.
Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean enjoyed successful 2013 season debuts in the E21 during the first day of the Australian Grand Prix weekend at Albert Park. Kimi ended the second of two afternoon sessions with the fourth fastest time, whilst Romain was fifth quickest. The team evaluated a new front wing and floor as well as running through its familiar Friday programme of evaluations over the course of 102 trouble-free laps.
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director - Technical programme notes - We evaluated a new front wing on both cars - Kimi ran with a new floor in both sessions - Pirelli’s medium (white) compound tyre was used in the first session, the medium and supersoft (red) in the afternoon - The second session saw long runs on both tyre compounds - We evaluated revised exhaust outlets on both cars
What we learned today: - The E21 ran reliably, providing good data for determining our set-up for tomorrow.
Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03 Free practice 1: P6, 1:27.877, 17 laps Free practice 2: P4, 1:26.361, 38 laps
Kimi: “It’s good for the season to start and the car felt pretty strong out there. I don’t think we’re the fastest but it’s a good start. It was nice to have a reliable day after spending some time in the garage during testing. The track was as I remembered it and there were no surprises from it or the car. We’ll have to see what happens tomorrow with qualifying as maybe it will be a bit cooler. I’m happy so far this weekend.”
Romain Grosjean, E21-01 Free practice 1: P10, 1:28.520 15 laps Free practice 2: P5, 1:26.680, 32 laps
Romain: “It feels great to be out on circuit and on such a lovely day too. The track felt good and the car felt better. It took a while for the grip to come to us, but you expect that on a street circuit. We made good progress with set-up on the car over both sessions and I think there’s more to come which is promising.”
James Allison, Technical Director: “It’s been a steady start so far. The car has run reliably and reasonably quickly, but we feel there’s more to come from it. Broadly it’s been a successful day in terms of the programme we had in mind for these opening sessions, with both tyre compounds, our latest aero package and a few setup tweaks all given sufficient time for assessment. There’s still work to be done, but we’re certainly running with the leading group which bodes well for the rest of the weekend.”
ZitatAustralian GP: Raikkonen thinks Lotus has reduced gap to the front
Kimi Raikkonen thinks that Lotus is closer to the front than it was this time last year, but concedes that Sebastian Vettel is clearly ahead.
With the opening practice day for the Australian Grand Prix pointing towards Red Bull being clear at the front, Raikkonen sees nothing to suggest that his outfit is not in the chasing pack behind.
"I think even compared to the last races [of 2012], it feels like we are a bit closer," said Raikkonen, when asked if he felt Lotus was stronger than 12 months ago.
"We saw Vettel being fast today but all the rest, everybody else, it looks tight and they are close to each other.
"But it is only the first Friday. So let's see how it goes in the first two races and we will go from there."
The fact that Vettel's pace-setting time came after his super soft tyres were past their best points to the German having a significant advantage.
However, Raikkonen does not think that Lotus has shown its best potential just yet either.
"For sure we can improve ourselves also quite a bit," he explained. "They [Red Bull] were fast on the harder tyres, so you expect that they would have been a bit faster on the super soft. But you never know.
"Some other teams did not improve so much with the super soft. But it is what it is and the race is a different story. It is just the first Friday."
It's hard to understand Kimi, I had to pump-up the volume. About Natalie he said "best woman behind the wheel" ouch! So the guy said yes but she asked you what to do and he said "yes but, you know, it was the first corner! I guess she got scared of something hapening so she just took her hands off the wheel" " I think she learned something though"...
About the rally question of Mexico, I couldn't understand a thing, between the Australian accent and Kimi's mumbling... did someone get it?
It's hard to understand Kimi, I had to pump-up the volume. About Natalie he said "best woman behind the wheel" ouch! So the guy said yes but she asked you what to do and he said "yes but, you know, it was the first corner! I guess she got scared of something hapening so she just took her hands off the wheel" " I think she learned something though"...
About the rally question of Mexico, I couldn't understand a thing, between the Australian accent and Kimi's mumbling... did someone get it?
I think he said its a women behind the wheel. and it was the first corner on a oval, there was not many corners.
Hopefully Kimi can start within top 5. (probably taken by the 2 redbulls ) I think Ferrari will be like last year good during race even though not as fast as Redbull on quali. Hopefully its not just Vettel v Alonso, Kimi in the mix till the end! " title="pray" />
It's hard to understand Kimi, I had to pump-up the volume. About Natalie he said "best woman behind the wheel" ouch! So the guy said yes but she asked you what to do and he said "yes but, you know, it was the first corner! I guess she got scared of something hapening so she just took her hands off the wheel" " I think she learned something though"...
About the rally question of Mexico, I couldn't understand a thing, between the Australian accent and Kimi's mumbling... did someone get it?
I think he said its a women behind the wheel. and it was the first corner on a oval, there was not many corners.
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the rally question.. I don't get what Kimi says @2:43 but the question is if Kimi could have done the same in Brazil(open the gate) Kimi answers that it was actually the codriver so different story and he is only one guy in the car.
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Thu Mar 14, 2013 8:56 pm
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