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Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean took to
the Silverstone track briefly today for the
first practice sessions ahead of Sunday’s
British Grand Prix. The day’s running programme
was beset by persistent and continual rain which
meant only Pirelli’s wet weather tyres were used.
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director -
Technical programme notes :
We ran evaluations of our wet weather setup,
completing a limited number of laps with both
cars because of the inclement conditions.
Both cars ran Pirelli’s full wet tyre, with Kimi
completing limited running on the intermediate
tyre at the end of the second practice session.
What we learned today :
Our base wet weather setup appears to work well
at Silverstone.
Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05
Free practice 1 : P16, 2:00.253, 6 laps
Free practice 2 : P8, 1:58.897, 8 laps
Kimi :
“It was wet. It’s a shame we don’t have more wet
tyres to be able to get more track time, but if
it’s going to rain for the whole weekend then
everybody tries to save their allocation. We
were able to test certain things so it wasn’t a
total waste of time. It was interesting to see
the new section of the track ; it’s only a few
corners so it doesn’t make too much difference
to a lap. Hopefully tomorrow the weather will be
a bit better. Even if it is wet again, everyone
will go out in practice and in qualifying so we
should see a drier line emerge. When there are
only a couple of cars running this doesn’t
happen and there’s much more chance of
aquaplaning, but with everyone out there it
should be much better.”
Romain Grosjean, E20-04
Free practice 1 : P1, 1:56.552, 13 laps
Free practice 2 : P21, No time set, 0 laps
Romain :
“It wasn’t the busiest day ever due to the
weather conditions but still FP1 went well. The
car looks to be good and consistent. We tested a
few new aero parts which have worked pretty well.
I also learnt that the old part of the circuit
has a bit more grip than the new part. At the
end of FP1 this morning it was incredibly wet
and the same conditions at the start of FP2 so
we had to wait and be patient. I would have
liked to have more track time but due to the
regulations on tyres we didn’t want to use up
all our wet tyre allocation as more rain is
expected on Saturday and Sunday. We looked at
putting inters on but it wasn’t dry enough so we
couldn’t really do many laps this afternoon. The
conditions were a shame for the fans out there
who came to watch us today, but we always
appreciate their support.”
James Allison, Technical Director :
“It’s never too much fun in conditions like we
saw today as it is always a big dilemma about
whether to risk the car to learn about what it
is like to run in the conditions. We haven’t
done a lot of wet weather running this year so
it was useful for us to establish that the car
behaves well in these conditions, especially as
it may well be wet in the race. We were able to
validate that all the wings are doing what they
are supposed to do, even when the car is wet,
and we did that with both drivers. Our pace in
the morning showed that we don’t have any
problems in these conditions. We were also able
to conduct some pit stop practices which went
well. Tomorrow and qualifying should be
interesting.”
Kimi Räikkönen qualified in sixth position
whilst Romain Grosjean qualified tenth after a
rain-interrupted qualifying at Silverstone for
tomorrow’s British Grand Prix. Romain will line
up in ninth position on the grid thanks to a
penalty for a car ahead.
Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05. Q : P6, 1:53.290. FP3
: P5, 1:32.454
“We made a slightly wrong decision by using the
full wet and I only had one lap in the restarted
final qualifying session with the intermediates,
otherwise I think it was possible to have gone
faster. We also had a problem with the KERS
which we tried to fix during the red flag break.
We’re in sixth place, which is certainly not a
disaster ; but it could have been better. The
weather makes it a bit tricky for everybody.
It’s not easy, especially with the spray and
this is even more difficult in race conditions
when everyone is fighting for the same piece of
track. On the plus side for the fans, it’s good
fun to watch, even if it’s not the nicest
weather if you’re in a grandstand.”
Romain Grosjean, E20-04. Q : P10, No time set
in Q3. FP3 : P3, 1:32.358
“It’s frustrating and I’m very sorry for the
team as it looks like we had a strong car, but
sometimes mistakes happen. My lap was not much
different from the previous lap but it was
different enough for me to go off and the car
went backwards into the gravel and then it was
stranded. It was very slippery. We deserved
better, but we will do our best tomorrow to gain
positions to get some good points. It will be a
long race and starting position doesn’t mean as
much if there are variable conditions. There’s
also a benefit from not making it into Q3 as I
have a fresh set of intermediate tyres. Let’s
see what happens tomorrow.”
Alan Permane, Director of Trackside
Operations :
“We’re certainly ready for any race conditions.”
How do you assess today’s qualifying
performance ?
“We’re disappointed with qualifying in sixth and
tenth today. Romain made a mistake after going
fifth fastest in Q2 so was unable to demonstrate
any of his pace in the top ten qualifying group.
With Kimi it looks like we should have used
intermediates sooner in the restarted session,
but that is something which is easy to say with
hindsight but difficult to judge at the time.”
How much did Kimi’s KERS issue in qualifying
hamper him ?
“In the wet conditions we experienced, the lack
of KERS would have cost him a couple of tenths.
With the KERS functioning it could have been
possible to be a position further forwards on
the grid. That said, being on the correct tyres
and crossing the line to be the last driver on a
flying lap would have yielded far more time. We
took advantage of the rain delay to change
everything we could to rectify the KERS issue,
but were unable to do so in the time available.
We don’t expect it to be an issue in tomorrow’s
race.”
How confident are we in the different weather
conditions we’ve seen so far ?
“It looks like there will be showers again so we
need to be prepared to run any of the four
different tyres available from Pirelli. From
what we’ve seen so far this weekend, we’d prefer
it to be dry, as we looked competitive in this
morning’s dry practice session with Romain on
the hard tyre. If it is dry, the hard compound
looks to be the favoured race tyre, but if it’s
wet we’re certainly ready for any race
conditions.”
A ding-dong battle between the two Lotus F1
Team drivers over who would claim the fastest
lap of the British Grand Prix was just the back
story to an eventful race, which saw both E20s
place well inside the top ten to claim a good
haul of points for the team on the home soil of
Silverstone
Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05
Grid: P6
Race: P5
Fastest Lap: 1:34.661 [Lap 50]
Romain Grosjean, E20-04
Grid: P9
Race: P6
Fastest Lap: 1:34.884 [Lap 50]
(More comments to follow soon, as these become
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