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Kimi Räikkönen, E20-03
Position: [Q1] P9 [Q2] P11
Best Time: [Q1] 1:34.552 [Q2] 1:33.789
Laps Completed: [Q1] 3 [Q2] 3
Kimi counting on race tyre gamble: “We took the risk to try to save one set of tyres and didn’t go out afterwards when we could easily get in [to Q3]. We thought it was worth it to save the tyres, so we’ll see what happens. It will be more difficult [with tyres] here than it was in China, but I think everybody has the same issues. That’s one of the reasons why we didn’t go through [to Q3], but hopefully it will pay off tomorrow.”
A two hour break following this morning’s free practice session provided a good opportunity for the drivers to relax and shelter from the intense Bahrain heat.
As Q1 got underway, rival teams flooded out onto the circuit to complete early runs in the session. The E20s by contrast remained firmly parked in the Lotus F1 Team garage until the mid-point of the session; a tactic that certainly proved successful.
With a single flying lap each, Kimi and Romain leapt straight to the summit of the leader board; the Finn taking top spot briefly before the Frenchman eclipsed his team mate’s time by an impressive 0.4 seconds.
Despite completing just one run apiece on the slower, white marked medium compound Pirelli tyres, the team decided that both drivers had set sufficiently competitive times to see them through to Q2. As the chequered flag flew, both Romain and Kimi had in fact done more than enough; sailing into the second session in P4 and P9 respectively.
With 3 minutes elapsed in Q2, Kimi flew out of the box for his first single lap run on the soft compound tyres. The Finn was clearly pushing hard, and went fastest momentarily before gradually slipping to P6 as others improved on his time. Romain completed a 2 lap stint, but was not as happy as his team-mate; finishing his initial run in P11.
Both drivers returned immediately to the garage for a fresh set of soft tyres as the team weighed up whether a second run would be required. Satisfied with his pace, the Finn remained parked for the remainder of the session. Romain on the other hand was keen to improve on his initial showing, and emerged with just 3 minutes of running time remaining.
The move paid off for the Frenchman, who produced a stunning lap to jump 8 places up to P3; easily making it through to the pole position shootout. Kimi by contrast was an unfortunate victim of the final cut, missing out by fractions of a second as his time was bettered at the very last minute to demote the Finn to a starting slot of P11 for tomorrow’s race.
Pos--Driver---------------Team-------------------Time 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m32.422s 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m32.520s + 0.098 3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m32.637s + 0.215 4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m32.711s + 0.289 5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m32.821s + 0.399 6. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m32.912s + 0.490 7. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m33.008s + 0.586 8. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m33.394s + 0.972 9. Fernando Alonso Ferrari No time 10. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes No time 11. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m33.789s + 1.367 12. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m33.806s + 1.384 13. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m33.807s + 1.385 14. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m33.912s + 1.490 15. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m34.017s + 1.595 16. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m36.132s + 3.710 17. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m34.865s + 2.443 18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m35.014s + 2.592 19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m35.823s + 3.401 20. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m37.683s + 5.261 21. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m37.883s + 5.461 22. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault No time 23. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m37.905s + 5.483 24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m38.314s + 5.892
Kimi Raikkonen – 11th: “We had the speed today and we could easily have gone through to the final session with another run, but we thought it was worth taking the risk to only do one lap in Q2 and save fresh sets of tyres for the race. Managing the tyres will be a priority tomorrow, so while it was a gamble that didn’t get us through to the final session it will hopefully be a strategy which pays off in the race. We knew it was going to be close and of course we always want to be as high up the grid as possible, but there were two options and we went for the one which we believe will deliver the best result on Sunday. There are no points given out on Saturday, so let’s see what happens tomorrow.”
FUCK ISRAEL 