Raikkonen seeking power steering improvements in Malaysia

Source: autosport.com

Kimi Raikkonen will continue to work on improving his Lotus E20’s power steering in Malaysia, as he is still not happy with the feedback he is getting in the cockpit on his Formula 1 return.

The Finn missed out on track time in free practice in Australia last weekend as his team worked to give him a steering system that suited him.

In the end it could not find a solution better than the original set-up on the car, so the 2007 world champion had to get through his first weekend back without being totally comfortable.

“We have some things [to try],” Raikkonen told reporters in the Sepang paddock. “It is just a matter of getting it right.

“It is many things. It is not as I have been used to in the past, and it is not as perfect as it should be.

“The team is working hard since we knew about the issue, but it is not the easiest thing to fix. But we have a new one to try and hopefully it will be OK.”

The Finn added that overall he was happy with his Lotus, and now he has a race under his belt he doesn’t feel much has changed with the performance of Formula 1 cars since he left the sport at the end of 2009.

“The feeling is the same,” he said. “The downforce is more or less the same as it was at that time. Maybe we have more now, but handling wise it is very similar.

“In the race it was good. There are areas you want to improve, but it is never going to be perfect. You always want something better.”

Raikkonen also said he was surprised at how comfortable he felt with Pirelli’s tyres during his first race with the Italian firm’s rubber.

“The tyres were really good,” he said. “I took it easy, and probably I expected to have more problems with them.

“I didn’t have any knowledge, so I was surprised how well it went. The second set [in the race], I think we could have run the whole race with them.”

In an interview with Lotus technical director James Allison, it’s explained how the team are working hard to get the steering exactly how Kimi like’s it:

Q: How is progress in finding a steering set-up exactly to Kimi’s liking?
JA: We have a baseline steering set-up which Kimi is able to live with. It is not ideal for him, and it is our duty to ensure that we give him a system that meets his demands perfectly. We brought a new option to Melbourne for him to try but the wet weather meant that we were not able to judge whether it was a step forwards. We reverted to the “old faithful” out of an abundance of caution. We will keep persisting until we produce a set-up which is exactly to his requirements.

Q: What area specifically about the steering are the team focusing on?
JA: Each driver is different in what he wants from his steering setup. All of the drivers have a hydraulically assisted powered steering unit in the steering rack as the loads on the wheel would be intolerable otherwise. The engineers adjust the level of assistance that this unit provides to suit the individual requirements of the driver. Kimi likes to drive with quite a light steering wheel, but one which also has great precision. Our baseline rack is precise, but it is not light enough for Kimi’s driving style. Our challenge is to produce a hydraulic rack that is more powerful than the current unit, but which sacrifices none of its precision. We have not got there yet, but we will do.

Photos – Kimi arrives to circuit:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.