The death this week of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher can point to only one outcome for superstitious Formula One gamblers and lovers of bizarre sporting statistics - a victory for Lotus in Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.
A flick through the sport's record books shows that the last four deaths of former British premiers have been followed immediately by victory on the racetrack for the team from Enstone.
Edward Heath's demise on July 17, 2005 was followed on July 24 by success for Fernando Alonso in Germany with Renault, the team that is now Lotus and operates from the same English factory.
James Callaghan's death on March 26, 2005 came just before Alonso won in Bahrain for Renault.
In October 1995, Alec Douglas-Home passed away and Michael Schumacher won for Benetton, the team that went on to become Renault. Earlier that year, Schumacher triumphed in Monaco four days after Harold Wilson died.
Going back even further, the first race held after the death of Clement Attlee in October 1967 was won by...Britain's Jim Clark in a Lotus.
Still not convinced enough to take a flutter on Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen or Romain Grosjean in a country famed for its love of gambling? Then consider this - Thatcher's son Mark was once the chairman of Lotus cars in North America.
The morbid prime ministerial statistic follows another popular one that did the rounds of the F1 media centre before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix that linked papal conclaves with grand prix racing.
Three of the last five papal conclaves before the election of Pope Francis were followed by either victories for Lotus or a team from Enstone.
True to form, Raikkonen won this year's Australian season-opener only days after the Argentine pontiff was installed.
British bookmakers William Hill offered odds of 7/1 on Thursday on Raikkonen winning in China with Grosjean at 33/1. Red Bull's world champion Sebastian Vettel is 15/8 favorite.
Kimi Raikkonen says the issues with the soft tyre in practice for the Chinese Grand Prix are nothing new and won't change the approach to Sunday's race.
A number of drivers voiced their concerns with the soft tyre after Friday practice, with Felipe Massa saying his Ferrari was completely different on each compound and Lewis Hamilton questioning whether the soft was the right choice by Pirelli. Raikkonen, however, said that the only difference from other race weekends was the difference in lap time gains.
"[The soft] seems to have more grip on it so I think some teams improve a lot, some teams not so much," Raikkonen said. "That's how it's been the whole year; some cars benefit on some tyres and some on others.
"I think it's normal in the race. You try to push on lap one. Everyone always says "Oh you have to take it easy", but you never see that happen in the race. If you have a big gap then you can take it more easy, but usually you push on the first laps because that's when you can gain places most easily."
Raikkonen was also pleased with the progress made by Lotus on Friday and expects it to make further steps ahead of qualifying.
"If you look at the lap time it's reasonably good. I think we learned some things and confirmed some things that we had doubts about, so a pretty normal Friday. I haven't even looked what the others have done. I think for sure we can improve and we know how to improve so it is what it is right now."
Kimi Räikkönen set the second fastest time of the first day during the opening sessions for round three of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship; the Chinese Grand Prix. Kimi lapped the Shanghai International Circuit in a time of 1min 35.492secs during a soft tyre run in the afternoon session. Romain Grosjean was hampered on his flying lap using the softs; ending his second session with the twelfth fastest time. Romain conducted comparison work on the team’s latest exhaust package and ran with a new front wing, while Kimi trialled new rear floor aero parts.
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director - Technical programme notes - We evaluated a new front wing on Romain’s car. - Kimi ran with new aero components on the rear floor. - Pirelli’s medium (white) compound tyre was used in the first session, the medium and soft (yellow) tyres during the second. - Romain ran with the latest exhaust package in the morning, reverting to the older configuration in the afternoon for comparison purposes.
What we learned today: - The new front wing appears to be beneficial and Romain will continue with it for the rest of the weekend. - The data from the rear exhaust package appears to confirm the benefit of the latest specification. - The car looks good with both tyre compounds.
Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03 Free practice 1: P11, 1:38.790, 16 laps Free practice 2: P2, 1:35.492, 32 laps
"We’re certainly not struggling so it could be a good weekend."
Kimi: “If you look at the lap time it looks to have been a pretty okay day. For sure there are things we have to improve and you never know what will happen tomorrow but it’s a reasonable start to the weekend. We seem to be happy with the soft tyres and maybe not as happy with the harder ones. We’ve still got time to improve and we’re certainly not struggling so it could be a good weekend.”
Romain Grosjean, E21-01 Free practice 1: P9, 1:38.398, 17 laps Free practice 2: P12, 1:36.963, 31 laps
"We now have a lot of data to help find the extra performance we want."
Romain: “Today was not so easy for me and I’m still looking for the right setup. I ran with the new exhaust package in the morning and the older one in the afternoon to try to help find where improvements can be made. We now have a lot of data to help find the extra performance we want. The new front wing helps, so that’s a step in the right direction. In Malaysia we developed the car as the weekend continued and there are of course a few things we can change overnight. It’s a new day tomorrow and we’ll hopefully be able to have the car as I’d like it for a strong result this weekend.”
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “We’re reasonably happy with what was a fairly normal Friday for us. Kimi’s pace looks strong and he felt he could have gone faster on his flying lap. Romain’s lap time is not representative after he got caught up behind Lewis [Hamilton] during his option run. The grip level between the two tyres through certain corners is quite noticeable and – as we saw during winter testing – the lifespan of the soft tyre could be a talking point. There’s no doubt it’s the tyre for qualifying, but making it last in the race will be a challenge. Overall we’re pleased with the car in terms of pace, high fuel performance and tyre preservation; hopefully we can look forward to a strong weekend ahead.”
ZitatKIMI RÄIKKÖNEN UPBEAT ON CHINESE GP POTENTIAL After setting the second fastest time in the opening day of action in Shanghai, Kimi’s confident that good things could happen this weekend
HOW WAS THE FIRST DAY OUT ON TRACK? If you look at the lap time it looks to have been a pretty okay day. For sure, there are things we have to improve and you never know what will happen tomorrow, but it’s a reasonable start to the weekend. We seem to be happy with the soft tyres and maybe not as happy with the harder ones, but we’ve still got time to improve and we’re certainly not struggling so it could be a good weekend.
HOW DOES THE SOFT TYRE FEEL BETTER THAN THE MEDIUM? The softer tyre seems to have much more grip and it suited our car better today. For some teams the soft tyre gives a big improvement, for other teams not so much. We will have to see how many laps the soft tyre last for as that will be important in the race. For sure it will be the tyre we use to qualify on.
IS THERE MUCH MORE PACE TO COME FROM THE CAR? We can definitely improve. We have some pace to come from the car in the usual areas with setup. We’re not far from where we want to be, but if we can find a little more speed with the harder tyres we’ll be happy. My quick lap today could have been better, so there’s some more pace to come even if we don’t improve the car, but hopefully we do...
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Fri Apr 12, 2013 3:53 am
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