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2013 Korean Grand Prix
A superb race for the boys in black and gold saw
Kimi and Romain take a double podium, with top
class performances from both drivers and the
team. Here’s how it happened...
Friday 4th October 2013
Romain Grosjean ended the first day of
practice for the Korean Grand Prix with the
sixth fastest time whilst team-mate Kimi
Räikkönen placed eighth in Yeongam, South Korea.
Both drivers completed their Friday programmes
as scheduled, with Kimi’s crew having a busy
lunchtime repairing his E21 after an excursion
into the barriers at the end of the first
practice session.
While Kimi was unhurt in the incident, the
damage incurred by the car necessitated the
replacement of the front and rear wings, as well
as suspension components on both left-hand
corners of the car.
Technical programme notes:
Kimi’s car spent additional time in the garage
at the start of FP2 as his crew completed the
repairs necessary after contact with the
barriers at the end of FP1.
Pirelli’s medium [white] tyre was used in the
morning, with the medium and super soft [red]
compound used in the afternoon session.
What we learned today:
The E21 demonstrated strong potential on both
varieties of tyre, with a smaller difference in
performance between each compound compared to
that seen in Singapore.
Kimi Räikkönen, E21-05
Free Practice 1: P8, 1:40.677, 15 laps
Free Practice 2: P8, 1:39.757, 33 laps
"The car feels quite strong, especially on the
long runs"
“Obviously it didn’t help that I destroyed part
of the car this morning; maybe I ran out of
talent there! It didn’t cause too much damage
and the car was fine for the second practice,
even if the guys had quite a hurry to fix it.
They did a good job and we managed to complete
everything we wanted today. The car feels quite
strong – especially on the long runs – so that’s
good news for the race. On the short runs it
wasn’t exactly as I wanted, but we still have
some time to make improvements there.”
Romain Grosjean, E21-04
Free Practice 1: P7, 1:40.396, 19 laps
Free Practice 2: P6, 1:39.226, 34 laps
"I think top five is a realistic target in
qualifying"
“My first two runs this morning weren’t perfect,
so we decided to change a few things during the
break but that didn’t exactly go to plan either.
Finding the right balance for a full lap here is
quite tricky as the different sectors are quite
unique from each other, but eventually we
returned to a more conventional setup for a run
on the option tyres and the car felt much better.
This circuit is a bit more front limited which
doesn’t particularly help us, but hopefully the
track evolution will bring it towards us a bit
more tomorrow. Half a second to the leaders is a
bit of a gap and they look pretty quick, so I
think top five is a realistic target in
qualifying, but of course we’ll do our best to
catch them.”
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
"A fairly routine Friday"
“It was a fairly routine Friday aside from
Kimi’s small off this morning which looked a lot
worse than it was, resulting primarily in some
front trackrod and rear corner damage for us to
repair. We lost some time at the start of the
second session whilst the rectification work was
completed, but this didn’t impact on our
programme today. We completed long runs with
both cars in the afternoon to give us plenty of
data for analysis ahead of Sunday. As
illustrated a few times, the track was quite
slippery to start the weekend, which is
something we expect to see improve throughout
tomorrow and Sunday. The tyres are behaving as
expected, with a smaller performance difference
between the two compounds than what we saw in
Singapore, which is in line with our predictions.”
Saturday 5th October 2013
Romain Grosjean took fourth position whilst
Kimi Räikkönen set the tenth fastest time in
qualifying for tomorrow’s Korean Grand Prix.
Both drivers gain a grid position thanks to a
penalty for Mark Webber, meaning Romain starts
from third and Kimi ninth.
Romain progressed through the first qualifying
session using only the medium compound tyre,
enabling him to have two runs on new super soft
tyres in Q3. Kimi was fastest in Q1, but
suffered excessive understeer on his solitary
flying lap of the final session to leave him
tenth.
Kimi Räikkönen, E21-05 Q: P10 (Starts
P9), 1:38.822 FP3: P6, 1:38.701
"If you look at the long run pace yesterday we
should have a stronger race"
“I made a mistake on my only set of new tyres in
the final qualifying session so my lap wasn’t
fast enough for a better position, which
eventually meant I ended up tenth and will start
from ninth position tomorrow. We’ve had a bit of
understeer in the car so I’ve struggled a little
all weekend. If you look at the long run pace
yesterday we should have a stronger race, but
obviously we have to see how the weather turns
out. We hope to do better tomorrow.”
Romain Grosjean, E21-04 Q: P4 (Starts
P3), 1:37.531 FP3: P8, 1:38.857
"Our race pace looked strong yesterday so we’re
aiming for a good result"
“Our aim was to be up there fighting with the
Mercedes today and that’s exactly where we were.
The Red Bulls were always going to be quick, so
to be reasonably close to them in terms of the
times is not too bad. Gaining a place on the
grid just because another driver has been
penalised is not how you want to move forwards,
but I’ve had to cope with it before myself and
it’s part of the sport. Of course, it will be an
advantage for us as it means we’ll start on the
clean side of the track. Tomorrow will be
interesting in terms of what effect the tyre
degradation has, but our race pace looked strong
yesterday so we’re aiming for a good result.”
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director
"We’ve got good expectations for tomorrow"
How was qualifying for the team?
We’re very happy with Romain’s qualifying
position after a textbook performance through
all three sessions with everything going
absolutely to plan. He soaked up the extra
pressure to get through the first session using
only the medium compound tyre and the benefit of
doing that was having two sets of the super soft
in the final session. Kimi didn’t have the
luxury of two runs in the final session, and
unfortunately his crucial lap didn’t quite come
off as planned. As ever, he will be a formidable
force in the race so we’ve got good expectations
for tomorrow.
What are the strategy considerations?
It’s a circuit where you can overtake with DRS;
not the easiest, but certainly not the hardest.
That said, tomorrow’s race will be about tyres –
in particular the front right which has a very
hard time – so managing the wear and performance
will be an important consideration.
What do we think looking to the skies?
The threat of storms has certainly abated
somewhat since the beginning of the week,
however I think we can still expect to catch the
outskirts of the bad weather meaning we could
see some rain overnight and early tomorrow
morning if not for the race itself. Of course,
this is something we’re monitoring closely.
Sunday 6th October 2013
Lotus F1 Team scored its third double podium
of the season as Kimi Räikkönen took second and
Romain Grosjean third in an emphatic team
performance at the Korean Grand Prix. Both
drivers benefited from strong race pace and
drove superbly – including dicing with each
other – during a race which saw two safety car
periods.
Kimi returns to third place in the Drivers’
Championship on 167 points – displacing Lewis
Hamilton – and now lies 28 points behind
Fernando Alonso in second. Romain Grosjean
remains eighth in the standings on 72 points, 17
away from Felipe Massa in seventh. The team
maintains fourth place in the Constructors’
Championship on 239 points from Mercedes’ 283.
Kimi started from P9 with a scrubbed set of
super soft tyres, changing to new mediums on
laps 11 and 25.
Romain started from P3 on a scrubbed set of
super soft tyres, changing to new mediums on
laps 10 and 31.
Kimi Räikkönen, P2, E21-05
"Second place is ok and a good result for the
team, but we’re here to win"
“Second place is ok and a good result for the
team, but we’re here to win and having to fight
your way to the front from a bad starting
position is not ideal. Qualifying was pretty
awful for me, but it’s difficult to say whether
a better grid position would have made the
difference. Sebastian was faster than us at the
end; not massively, but a little bit for sure
and his tyres were fresher too so I think it
would have been tough to catch him in any case.
We were closer to the Red Bull today than we
have been in some races, but not close enough.
People might say it was good luck with the
safety car, but sometimes these things go with
you and others they go against you. We made up
some places even before that happened, and if we
hadn’t had the speed then we wouldn’t have been
in a position to take advantage. You could see
at the end that we had more than enough pace to
keep the others behind, so I think it’s deserved.”
Romain Grosjean, P3, E21-04
"Our pace was great, but the two safety car
periods hurt our attempts to battle for the win"
“It’s a fantastic result for the team. Of course,
one step higher on the podium would have been
better for me and two steps better would have
been superb, but it didn’t quite work out that
way. Our battle with Lewis [Hamilton] was good
and our pace was great, but the two safety car
periods hurt our attempts to battle for the win.
After the restart I should have been in front of
Kimi on the road, but it was my mistake which
let him past. I went a bit wide in Turn 15 and
got on the Astroturf – which is very slippery –
and that let him get a run on me. Then there
were yellow flags into Turn 3 so I couldn’t take
the place back straight away. Of course, I was
asking the team to let me past Kimi as I was on
fresher tyres, but they left us to race which is
our philosophy of fair play. You lose so much
downforce in sectors two and three and obviously
our cars are pretty close on performance so it’s
pretty hard to pass, but we have to be very
happy with a double podium.”
Eric Boullier, Team Principal
"We have a lot of promise for the remaining
races and podiums are certainly on our agenda"
“Another double podium for the team is a
fantastic result and it tastes like a race win
this late in the season. Credit to everyone back
at Enstone for delivering us extra performance
from the long wheelbase car, as any gain towards
the end of the year is especially beneficial as
we fight for position in both Championships. The
race team delivered a great strategy and pit
stops, whilst both drivers drove exceptionally
well. We have a lot of promise for the remaining
races and podiums are certainly on our agenda.”
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director
"It was close between the two, but we let both
drivers race to the end which was the right
thing to do"
“A great result for the team. We thought we
would be competitive coming into this weekend,
and in the end we qualified well and raced
extremely well. Romain drove an incredibly
strong race, and without the safety car would
have taken a very comfortable second place.
There was an element of luck for Kimi with the
safety car and he certainly made the most of
that, before once more demonstrating that he
never stops pushing by capitalising on the one
mistake made by his team-mate all weekend. It
was close between the two, but we let both
drivers race to the end which was the right
thing to do. All signs look positive for Japan.”
Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team
Support Leader
“A fantastic race from both drivers. Romain was
very strong in the first part of the race,
controlling the pace and managing the fuel and
tyres very well. We reused his engine from
Singapore and everything worked perfectly. We
were on the limit with Kimi’s engine with some
of the richer fuel mixes to help him get through
the field and maximize performance. A great
result all round.” |
