Source: autosport.com | report: lotusf1team.com | twitter |
Qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix saw Kimi and Romain separated in the standings for the first time all weekend, as the Frenchman quickly found his feet at the Montréal circuit while the Finn narrowly missed the cut for the pole position shoot-out.
Qualifying 1
Both drivers sailed through to the second session with strong early laps set on the yellow marked soft compound Pirelli tyres. Kimi emerged briefly on the super soft tyres to put a banker time on the board, pushing the Finn into the top 10.
Key Moments:
9mins: Both drivers set strong mid-session times to sit side-by-side, well inside the top 10
12mins: Rivals begin to emerge on super soft tyres, times begin to tumble with the Finn and Frenchman sliding down the order
15mins: Kimi emerges for a stint on the super softs
20mins: Romain remains in the pits, just making it through without having to use the super softs. Kimi jumps up to P9 on his final lap using the option tyres
Qualifying 2
Kimi and Romain departed the garage on the red marked super soft compound Pirelli tyres, which were used throughout. Romain put in a strong lap at the death to progress to the pole position shoot-out in P7, Kimi meanwhile made an early exit in P12.
Key Moments:
5mins: Romain sets his first flying lap; good enough for P8 in the early stages
7mins: Kimi jumps into the top 10 with his initial effort
12mins: Both drivers emerge for their final stints
15mins: Romain crosses the line with a last gasp effort to take P7; Kimi fails to improve, exiting qualifying in P12
Qualifying 3
The sole remaining E20 in the hands of Romain set a time good enough for P2 at the halfway stage, emerging with moments to spare for a last attempt on fresh super soft tyres and taking a final grid slot of P7.
Key Moments:
5mins: Romain sets his first time; initially occupying P2
8mins: The Frenchman starts his final stint on a new set of super soft tyres, taking P7 with his last lap of the day
Pos--Driver---------------Team-----------------Time----------Gap 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m13.784s 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m14.087s + 0.303 3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m14.151s + 0.367 4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m14.346s + 0.562 5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m14.411s + 0.627 6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m14.465s + 0.681 7. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m14.645s + 0.861 8. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m14.705s + 0.921 9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m14.812s + 1.028 10. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.182s + 1.398 Q2 cut-off time: 1m14.680s Gap ** 11. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m14.688s + 0.501 12. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m14.734s + 0.547 13. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m14.748s + 0.561 14. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m15.078s + 0.891 15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m15.156s + 0.969 16. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m15.170s + 0.983 17. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m15.231s + 1.044 Q1 cut-off time: 1m15.552s Gap * 18. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m16.263s + 1.602 19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m16.482s + 1.821 20. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m16.602s + 1.941 21. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m17.492s + 2.831 22. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m17.901s + 3.240 23. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m18.255s + 3.594 24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m18.330s + 3.669
Kimi Raikkonen – 12th: “Obviously it’s disappointing to go out in Q2 but we had some issues with the differential which meant the car wasn’t handling as it should. When the grid is so tight it makes a big difference not having the car exactly as you like it. Still, we had no issues on the long runs yesterday, we have options to choose from with the tyres, and the warmer weather is definitely suiting us better so hopefully we can put everything right before tomorrow and go from there. The race is where it counts, so let’s see what we can do.”
FUCK ISRAEL 
source: http://f1pitradio.com/
During the break between Q1 and Q2, Kimi was told: “Now we got a bit of an issue with the diff where it’s not reacting to what you do, so it’s sitting at 50 bar, which might be affecting your feeling in general, particularly on power, so you won’t be getting as much diff locking as normal”
The clutches in the differential are hydraulically regulated. Simply put, higher hydraulic pressures against the clutches bring the differential closer to locking characteristics, while lower hydraulic pressures induce characteristics closer to a limited-slip differential, thus allowing the wheels to differentiate in rotational speed as the car turns.
Electric servo-valves control these pressures and are able to do so very quickly with reaction times as little as 1 millisecond. The nature and speed of these valves allow the required hydraulic pressures to be dynamically adjusted for the three cornering phases of ‘Entry’, ‘Mid’, and ‘Exit’. For mid corner, the diff would need to be more open to allow the car to rotate, and as such would require lower hydraulic forces. In contrast, for corner exit, more differential locking would be desired, requiring higher hydraulic pressures. As you can see from the Lotus steering wheel below, the driver has a selector switch to easily change amounts of hydraulic pressure applied to the differential, as a function of the three cornering phases, Entry, Mid, and Exit.
When Kimi is told the differential is “not reacting to what you do”, it means that no matter what setting he changes those switches to, the hydraulic clutch pressure in the differential will not change, nor will there be any change in cornering performance.
When he is informed, “…it’s sitting at 50 bar”, it is reasonable to believe that a servo-valve is physically seized in a position, unable to adjust hydraulic pressure to the clutches.
Being told that the issue primarily affects him when “on power, so you won’t be getting as much diff locking as normal”, allows us to understand that “50 bar” must be intermediate of the total pressure range available, insufficient to provide higher amounts of differential locking. Unfortunately, we are not given any further insight into how far from optimal locking pressures 50 bar truly is.
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Thanks for the last comment! It looks like this problem really affected the performance. I can’t wait to see him on the podium again. At least Hamilton has a decent chance for the win so it won’t be a totally disappointing day if Kimi misses the podium.
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Lotus thinks it has solution to its lack of qualifying pace:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100319
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