Source: autosport.com | lotusf1team.com | live commentary | Lotus on Twitter
Kimi Raikkonen ensured that Lotus finished pre-season Formula 1 testing on top as nobody was able to beat his morning time on the final afternoon at Barcelona.
Most of the field spent the afternoon focusing on race simulations, meaning that Raikkonen’s 1m22.030s lap, set inside the final 20 minutes of the morning, was unlikely to come under fire.
The Lotus driver’s race simulation was among the most impressive of the day as he completed a 65-lap run on four sets of Pirelli tyres; three soft, one hard. During these stints he suffered performance drop-off of no more than 1.8s on any given set of tyres.
While his drop-off figures were the best of the race simulations, his overall pace was still shy of Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren, which seemed to have a 0.2s advantage on any given lap of a stint.
Today's times: Pos--Driver--------Team------------Time---------------Laps 1. Raikkonen Lotus 1m22.030s 121 2. Alonso Ferrari 1m22.250s +0.220 115 3. Senna Williams 1m22.296s +0.266 53 4. Hulkenberg Force India 1m22.312s +0.282 101 5. Kobayashi Sauber 1m22.386s +0.356 72 6. Hamilton McLaren 1m22.430s +0.400 115 7. Petrov Caterham 1m22.795s +0.765 101 8. Schumacher Mercedes 1m22.939s +0.909 100 9. Maldonado Williams 1m23.347s +1.317 48 10. Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m23.393s +1.363 100 11. Vettel Red Bull 1m23.608s +1.578 23
Morning times: Pos--Driver--------Team------------Time-------------Laps 1. Raikkonen Lotus 1m22.030s 41 2. Alonso Ferrari 1m22.250s +0.220 63 3. Senna Williams 1m22.296s +0.266 53 4. Hulkenberg Force India 1m22.312s +0.282 45 5. Kobayashi Sauber 1m22.386s +0.356 56 6. Hamilton McLaren 1m22.430s +0.400 60 7. Petrov Caterham 1m22.795s +0.765 43 8. Schumacher Mercedes 1m22.939s +0.909 57 9. Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m23.393s +1.363 53 10. Vettel Red Bull 1m23.608s +1.578 15
Quotes:
Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus F1 Team Race Driver:
“I was happy with today’s running. We didn’t have any major issues so it was certainly better than yesterday. Everything worked, we tried a lot of set-ups on the car and it all came together well. It was a long time in the car today but I feel fine. It was cooler today so the tyres didn’t work as well as otherwise but everything was okay. Of course, the fastest time at the end of the day looks good but no-one will know how fast any of the cars are until we get to qualifying at Albert Park. All the changes we have made over testing have been improving the car, so we’ll have to see what happens in Melbourne in a couple of weeks’ time. I’m feeling positive.”
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
“We’ve had a good, productive day to conclude our pre-season test programme. After the interruptions of yesterday we made some set-up changes overnight which immediately made Kimi feel more comfortable in the car as the balance was much more to his liking. We then spent the rest of the morning running on medium and then soft tyres, steadily improving the car. Despite having missed a test we are in good shape heading to Melbourne. We’ve completed two race distances and the E20 has proved reliable, easy to set-up and predictable in its handling with both drivers reporting they are happy.”
Eric Boullier,Team Principal:
“After the disappointment of last week, this test was crucial and I think we did a good job. First of all, we’ve been able to confirm that the changes made to the car fixed our front suspension problems. We were confident that the redesign was well conceived and well executed, but we have demonstrated the integrity of the modified part. It is a tribute to the all team, which has been working amazingly hard over the last few days in order to fly the E20 on time to Barcelona. Despite the rain and a few technical glitches, we managed to learn more about the new car. We now have a better understanding of it, and have a few positive setup directions that we can take further. Moreover, both drivers seem happy with the balance and tyre degradation. We are cautiously optimistic for the future and now looking forward to Melbourne.”
“Raikkonen has been out doing a race simulation run, and if you compute his lap times on that back to his fastest lap this morning, it looks like he had a maximum of 20kg of fuel in to do that 1:22.0. His race run has been pretty consistent. He ran soft tyres and then medium, while Lewis Hamilton out at the same time in the McLaren ran soft-soft. Hamilton was a little quicker but had more drop-off – Raikkonen lost 1.3secs over a stint, while Hamilton lost 2secs and 2.4secs. The Lotus looks like it’s doing a decent job, the car looks balanced and Raikkonen has always been good at banging in the lap times.”
Click here for the full test gallery: Today’s photos:
FUCK ISRAEL 
Hello there! Just read a story from TurunSanomat. Kimi Räikkönen is going to be in the Top Gear program trying to beat Sebastian Vettel’s lap record.
http://www.ts.fi/moottoriurheilu/f1/318022.html
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Hi Pekka! Yes, we posted about it few days ago, I’m so excited! They saved the best guest for last 😉
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Kimi’s times today in Barcelona are fantastic – really consistent on the hard tyres:
1:28.583 (71)
1:28.585 (72)
1:28.521 (73
1:28.611 (74)
1:29.506 (75)
1:29.445 (76)
1:29.851 (77)
1:29.823 (78)
1:29.530 (79)
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great!! thanks
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Thank you so much for the photos!! Absolutely ecstatic to see Kimi return and stoked that KR Space is once again back in action.
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Hey Even*….i feel so good writing here for the first time since 2 yrs….
Raikkonen is Back!!!!!! OMG!!!!
And with Raikkonen back and this space back…..it just feels like old times….
Hell we all Raikkonen fans have been patiently waiting…
Just few days to go and we are already hearing about Raikkonen’s chances in Australia…
Will be following Raikkonen and you…….Again!!!!
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