Kimi Räikkönen took his third podium finish of the season and Romain Grosjean his first after a superb second and third place result in today’s Bahrain Grand Prix. After emulating the 2-3 result of the same result as last year, Lotus F1 Team returns to second position in the Constructors’ Championship with Kimi leading the chase of leader Sebastian Vettel from second in the Drivers’ standings.
[list] [*]Kimi suffered from an allergic reaction before he started the race. [/*:m][*] Kimi started from P8 with used medium tyres, changing to new hard tyres on laps 16 and 34. [/*:m][*] Romain started from P11 on new hard tyres, changing to new hard tyres on lap 8, then new mediums on laps 27 and 42. [/*:m][*] Romain’s first pit stop was earlier than anticipated due to track debris in the form of a McLaren front wing end-plate being scooped up by his right-hand-side radiator intake.[/*:m][/list:u]
Kimi Räikkönen, P2, E21-03
“You’re never really happy if you don’t win, but I suppose second place is as close as you can get. I drove to the maximum and the car had the pace that we missed in qualifying yesterday so it was a pretty good result. We didn’t have the speed to challenge Sebastian [Vettel] today but we did have the pace to get both cars on the podium so I’m happy for the team.”
Romain Grosjean, P3, E21-02
“It’s great to be back on the podium and it’s a fantastic result for the team. It hasn’t been an easy start to the season for me, but we made good progress through the weekend and are now back to where we should be. I felt much more comfortable in the car and the result today is a deserved reward for everyone after all our hard work. It was a really enjoyable race with a lot of overtaking and a couple of tense moments along the way, so to come from P11 through to the podium is really satisfying. We’ve had consistency already, finishing every race in the points, but now it’s the big results we’re chasing and this is a very good start to that challenge.”
Eric Boullier, Team Principal
"Here we are again, just like in 2012! This time around though it was much more difficult – especially after a qualifying performance which fell below our expectations – but we’ve shown flashes of pace throughout the weekend and confirmed that speed when it mattered today. The win was not quite within our reach after the start we made, but to come away with a double podium when the top six would maybe have been a more realistic pre-race target was a great performance from everybody involved. I’m delighted for the whole team here in Bahrain and back at Enstone; it’s a well-deserved result.”
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director
“Both drivers did a fantastic job today. We know our car is kind on tyres so we were able to play to those strengths and rectify the disappointment of qualifying yesterday. We chose an aggressive strategy with Romain, opting for a three-stop race from eleventh on the grid, and it worked perfectly. He was able to drive aggressively when asked and conserve his tyres when needed, so we are very happy as he delivered everything we wanted from him. With Kimi we used a two-stop strategy and relied on our long run pace. Considering he was suffering from an allergic reaction before he started the race it’s a very impressive performance indeed.”
Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team Support Leader
“A great result today for the Enstone-Viry partnership, with a double podium consolidating the potential shown at the start of the season. Kimi again drove an impeccable race, while Romain’s podium was even more impressive considering that the collision with Perez near the start blocked one of the cooling ducts, sending the oil temperatures some 20°C higher than average! For the second year in a row Renault engines have locked out the podium in Bahrain, which gives a lot of positive energy for the start of the European season.”
Four races live even though I work Sundays? That's a good record compared to last year. Even so, despite having a holiday from work, the damn idiots are calling me in >.
Thorougly enjoyable race. Even though that pesky Triple World Champion ran away with the race after 5 or so laps in. Great race, I have nothing against this track, I think mainly because of the 2010 race the track gets a lot of unfair criticism.
Lovely battles throughout, DRS was less of an issue than in China. Finally they figured out that putting two DRS zones one after the other is not ideal, hopefully they'll learn from it.
There wasn't even a phase of the race were there wasn't any action, great racing all around, apart from Webber's brainfart.
The winner and championship leader looked posessed at the start. Getting ahead of Rosberg was crucial and he knew it, looked at one point they might have collided. But didn't, put on a great move on the oppurtunist Alonso after the latter got past into Turn 1. Controlled the race once he past Rosberg which took a little time, and went on his way. The scary thing is, Vettel could have easily done a two stop, so that could be an ace taken away from Lotus. Looks like a firm favourite for the title, in saying that though, Alonso looked like the favourite after China.
The Kimster started from 8th, went into 6th on lap 1, then dropped back to 9th. Costly? Yes so in my opinion, could have challenged Vettel, if he qualified well, or if he got a better start. Another missed oppurtunity for a race win in my view. Quiet race, but good recovery, stays in touch with the championship.
A strange strategy by Grosjean, was going to do a 2 stopper, but had to revert to the three. Have to say, made it work very well. Started from 11th well, hung in there. Much improved race craft, a few good overtaes. The new chassis seems to be working from him, but he goes from Mr. Smiles to the Brood very quickly. Excellent race from him.
The moodiest driver on the grid equals his best race result with 4th. Another driver that made 2 stops work, some great pace from that car. Held on to 3rd for sometime, that was until the Grosjean charge came about. Says he's happy with 4th, and so he should be, the the 3 cars infront were faster. Hulkenberg must be annoyed with the switch to Sauber.
Anonymous for the first half of the race, but recovered to 5th for Hamilton. A bit confused on why they ran the medium tyres on 2 stints if he struggled on them. Once on the hards he was back up there, had a ding dong battle with Webber for the final few laps, and eventually passed him on the last lap. Moves up to third in the championship. Not sure where they are at, ahead of McLaren anyway is all I can say.
Perez has his best race without a strategy advantage. Really seemed on it today, irritating his team-mate Button throughout the race. Was a bit too aggressive, and in my opinion always has been, but it was great to see him up there. First time in 4 races he's looked to match Button, and infact beat him by some margin, doing a pitstop less than Mr.Smooth. Big confidence booster for him, looking more like a McLaren driver.
Don't know what happened to Webber, he looked set for 2nd place at one point, but just slipped all the way down to 7th. Didn't show much of the pace that Vettel had, apart from after the first round of pitstops. A clean weekend from him on the team front, but yet has to get to get rid of his dodgy driving, despite being near retirement age. Escapes a penalty with a reprimand after his collision with Rosberg, although a penalty may have been harsh.
Dodgy Reduction System (DRS), ruined Alonso's races early on. Twice he had to pit for the flap to get closed, forcing his strategy to get ruined, from then on it was damage limitation. Without DRS for the whole race, and making an extra trip to the pits compared to everyone else, he still managed to recover to get some valuable points. Sits 4th in the championship, that's one driver and team failure out of the way this season for him.
Rosberg was very aggressive today, showing everyone that despite being called 'Britney' he can be manly. Although he was lucky he didn't come across with Alonso in this race, as we might have heard "ALL DA TIME YOU HAVE TO LEAVE A SPACE!!!!!! OKAY?!!" again, not that I wouldn't have mind, as I still find that gives me a chuckle. Having to do 4 pitstops compared to some doing 2 is a bit ridiculous really. Must feel nothings going right for him this season after starting from pole and finishing in the position his team-mate started in. He gave us some great racing today, top lad.
Mr. Smooth complaining about his team-mate when he was also aggressive himself. Not liking Perez racing him? Not sure many would as he is nearly on Maldonado level, but even so it wasn't as bad as he made it out to be. Was going well for most of race,that was until he had to make another stop, wouldn't like it getting manners put on him by his 22 year old team-mate.
Maldonado finishes in his best position of the season in 11th, but some way off the top 10 runners.
Not looking good for the midfield teams, Sauber, Williams and Toro Rosso seemed to have slipped back a lot compared to the rest, didn't see much of them at all in this race, would be worried if I was one of their drivers, doesn't look promising.
Two punctures for Felipe baby, must feel hard done by, what are the chances that two random punctures/delaminations would happen on his car? Loses out on points and ground to his team-mate, didn't seem to be awfully quick, struggles on the medium tyres, unlucky for him, as that's the tyre that's most likely to get used for the rest of the season.
Pic 'n' Mix did well today, albeit with the half a second upgrades, nevertheless, beat Guitterez and was close to Ricciardo.
Guitterez just looks like an amateur, he wasn't sure he was ready for F1 himself.
Hopefully the winner of this race won't dominate the season or the rest of the races and will give someone else a chance.
I'm happy as well, Olga. But I am cautiously optimistic about this season. Red Bull are slowly coming to grips with the tyres. Lotus may fare well against red bull if Pirelli bring super soft or soft tyres to certain races (see China). But I think newey and his boys will get to the bottom of the tyre situation and maximiz tyre durability. I also think Lotus has another very strong rival in Ferrari. Ferrari is arguably the best overall package on the grid in Fernando's hands. Fernando made a terminal mistake in Malaysia. And the bullet-proof durability of Ferrari failed them today. The major question mark I have about Ferrari currently is reliability. Whereas their pace was always a question mark in the past, I feel Ferrari have delivered this year. They come off the starting grid quicker than any other car. And Fernando maximizes pace and durability of his Pirelli tyres on race day as good as anyone. Can Lady Luck stay on their side?!
Lotus will need to improve their pace if they want to be serious title contenders.. Their tyre durabikity advantage will only last for a limited duration. Lets see what they bring for Spain.. " title="holy" />
Zitat von RagingjamaicanReliability concerns for Ferrari?
Why?
The only thing that's went wrong for them mechanically is the DRS not closing, that's all.
I wouldn't like a Red Bull win this season. They seem to be the new Ferrari, whinge and talk a load of bollocks.
Also, 4 in a row for Vettel? Rather that didn't happen.
A figh between Alonso, Raikkonen and Vettel with Raikkonen winning would be nice.
Red Bull have the luck at the moment, Alonso seem a bit behind, Lotus are inconsistent.
It's reliability/luck combined really. Fernando's reliability was perfect in 2012. I'm not sure if luck just isn't on his side right now or it's a sign of things to come. I think it would be hard to argue that reliability will be a concern. But it's a chunk in their armor we aren't accustomed to seeing. It may be a sign of things to come. Hard to tell this early in the season.
Is Lotus really inconsistent? Kimi has finished on the podium three times out of four races. And arguably could have been there a fourth time if it wasn't for a mysterious penalty in Malaysia. Their qualifying may be considered inconsistent: but I could argue that their one lap pace is sacrificed for tyre durability on Sunday.
Back from paris and just looked at the race... I say max result despite bad first laps and kimi was sick? " title="blink" /> impressive to race like him in this heat !!! I am happy to go to europe! I think it will be a huge fight!!!
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Sun Apr 21, 2013 4:56 pm
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" title="moose" /> for win! 
" title="bliss" /> Seb was strong today and Kimi and Gro won a lot of places!!! 
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tme" title="notme" /> Sorry, the 4th picture is from the last year 
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" title="ty" /> for the interview, Ja. Someone please post the podium celebration if it is found.. 
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" title="sorry" /> I had to leave early from the race. 
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" title="blink" /> impressive to race like him in this heat !!! I am happy to go to europe! I think it will be a huge fight!!!
