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YES !!! Congratulations to Kimi Räikkönen and
the Lotus F1 Team with the victory at Abu Dhabi.
Friday, 2 November 2012
Romain Grosjean went fifth fastest and Kimi
Räikkönen set the sixth quickest time – with
just 0.032secs separating them – at the end of
Friday’s two practice sessions at the Yas Marina
Circuit this afternoon. The team evaluated new
chassis wings and an exhaust update. Both cars
ran reliably throughout the two 90 minute
practice sessions.
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director –
Technical programme notes :
We evaluated an exhaust update on Kimi’s car in
FP1 and FP2.
Romain ran new chassis wings in both sessions.
Pirelli’s medium compound tyre was used in the
first session, the medium and soft in the
afternoon.
What we learned today :
We gained a good amount of data to make a
conclusion on the exhaust update.
We will run with the new chassis wings on both
cars for the rest of the weekend.
Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05
Free practice 1 : P10, 1:45.422, 15 laps
Free practice 2 : P6, 1:42.532, 28 laps
Kimi :
“We were good on Friday in India and we’ve been
strong again here in Abu Dhabi today. We tried a
few new parts on the car in both sessions and we
have some things to go through before tomorrow.
Our lap times seem to be pretty okay so far ;
hopefully we can find a little bit more pace for
tomorrow in practice and then again for the
qualifying session.”
Romain Grosjean, E20-03
Free practice 1 : P14, 1:45.743, 20 laps
Free practice 2 : P5, 1:42.500, 34 laps
Romain :
“Looking at today’s times I think it’s possible
for us to be battling nearer to those ahead of
us this weekend, as I think we can still improve
our lap times. I did not drive the best lap of
my life with the option tyres today ; with the
first set of options you put on you have to go
for it, so I think I can still improve a little
bit. To get in front of the cars ahead of us
will be difficult, but we will try, so why not ?
We had some updates that worked well, so we will
keep them.”
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director :
“We’re quite happy with where we are today. We
spent the morning on medium tyres, setting up
and balancing the cars. Both were reasonable,
with the drivers relatively happy. We ran an
exhaust update with Kimi in FP1 and went back to
the standard setup for the start of the second
session. We then did another back to back
analysis, so whereas we would normally have done
a much longer high fuel run we spent FP2
evaluating this to gain good data and give us a
clear picture on where we need to be tomorrow.”
Saturday, 3 november 2012
A tightly fought qualifying session at the Yas
Marina Circuit saw Kimi Räikkönen net a fine
fifth position on the grid whilst Romain
Grosjean took tenth for tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi
Grand Prix.
Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05. Q : P5, 1:41.260. FP3
: P9, 1:43.184
“Qualifying was good. The car hasn’t felt
fantastic all weekend but we decided we weren’t
going to change the car’s set-up from where it
was for the last race. It was the right choice
because in the end the circuit came to us in
qualifying where the car was the best it has
been so far here. We’ll give tomorrow our best
shot ; Let’s see if we can make a good start to
get right behind the Red Bulls, and then we’ll
see what happens after that.”
Romain Grosjean, E20-03. Q : P10, 1:41.778.
FP3 : P6, 1:43.015
“It wasn’t a great qualifying lap for me today,
and P10 is not where we want to be on the grid.
In the last run in Q3 I had no grip so wasn’t
able to find more pace. The car had felt fine
before that and we looked good through the other
qualifying sessions. It just means I have some
more work to do in the race and I think there’s
more to come from me and the car.”
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director :
“Overall a good performance from the team.”
How do you assess today’s qualifying
performance ?
“We are happy with our achievements today,
however we could have possibly managed even more
with both drivers. Fifth on the grid is very
good for Kimi and means we should be well placed
for tomorrow. Romain was looking set for a
strong lap too, matching Kimi for the first two
sectors, but he lost half a second on the final
sector ; we’ll be looking at what went wrong
there.”
Where do you think the car should be on race
pace ?
“As has been the trend this season, we’re
confident in terms of where our race pace should
be relative to our opposition. We completed a
promising long run on Friday afternoon ; we have
no problems or issues with tyre wear, warm-up,
or anything like that so there are no reasons
why we should not have a good evening tomorrow.”
Do we fear being stuck behind other cars as
in the Indian Grand Prix ?
“We’ve qualified further up the order with Kimi
which should certainly help his race. Overtaking
is slightly easier here, however Romain will
have his work cut out. That said, he completed
some nice overtaking moves last time out, so
let’s hope for the same here.”
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Kimi Räikkönen has taken his
19th Grand Prix victory – the 48th win for an
Enstone team – with a glorious day-to-night
victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Kimi made
an excellent start to take second place at the
start from fourth on the grid, then capitalised
when Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren retired. Romain
Grosjean did not finish the race after being
involved in an incident for which Sergio Perez
was deemed responsible.
Kimi maintains third position in the Drivers’
Championship on 198 points ; a diminished 47 shy
of Fernando Alonso and an increased 31 ahead of
Mark Webber. The team remains fourth in the
Constructors’ Championship on 288 points ; a
reduced 30 behind McLaren and an increased 152
in front of Mercedes.
Kimi started on soft tyres, pitting on lap 31
for a set of new medium compound rubber.
Romain started on soft tyres, pitting on lap 1
for a set of new mediums then again on lap 9
under safety car conditions for a further set of
scrubbed soft rubber.
Kimi Räikkönen, P1, E20-05
"I’m very happy for the team, and for myself
also. You never know what’s going to happen
during the race ; the safety cars made it quite
tricky, but I’ve had similar races many, many
times this year. Today we had a clear circuit to
be able to use our speed. Perhaps we were not
the fastest at the end, but we were quick enough
and consistent enough to win so it’s great for
the team. We’ve had some difficult races in the
second half of the season so it’s fantastic to
come back with a win."
Romain Grosjean, DNF, E20-03
"I am very happy for Kimi as it’s the win we
were waiting for and it’s an unbelievable result
for the whole team. For myself I’m disappointed
as I was running pretty well. It was a tight
battle with three of us in a row at turn eleven,
then Sergio [Perez] went off track at turn
thirteen and came back on the inside at turn
fourteen leaving me with no room to go anywhere
else. Mark [Webber] then came from behind and we
touched ; it was a big shame. A great day for
the team, but an unlucky one for me."
Eric Boullier, Team Principal
"I have one word first of all : Great. Then
there are many words such as ‘relief’ and
‘deserved’. It’s obviously a very well deserved
result for the team. I’m pleased for Kimi and he
did a very good job. We’ve been pushing very
hard all season and we’ve nearly had it before.
There’s a little frustration not to have had a
win sooner, and we have been waiting for it, but
it’s a fantastic feeling to finally take that
victory and a superb reward for the team. It’s
great for Formula 1, it’s great for Kimi and
it’s great for our team."
James Allison, Technical Director
"When you are as happy as this it is hard to
avoid lapsing into cliché. Despite being
tantalisingly close several times this year, we
have waited a long time to return to the top
step of the podium. It is a massive tribute both
to a flawless drive from Kimi and to the
tenacity of the entire Enstone team for never
having taken their eye off the prize all year.
With two races left in the season we go on to
Austin with a spring in our step, invigorated to
do it all over again and see what we can
achieve."
Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team
Support Leader
"It’s just an awesome feeling to finally win a
race ; the first victory for the Enstone-Viry
partnership in its present configuration. All
season the chassis-engine package has been
strong and everyone has worked incredibly hard
in the last few weeks to successfully introduce
new parts to get that last piece of performance.
It all worked out beautifully today and hats off
to Kimi for judging it perfectly." |
