Singapore GP – Qualifying Results: P12

Source: autosport.com | lotusf1team.com | twitter

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A mixed qualifying session for Lotus F1 Team saw both drivers feature prominently in the early stages but fade somewhat towards the end of running. P8 and P10 is the result with some hard work to do in tomorrow’s race for Kimi and Romain…

Qualifying 1 – Key Moments:

00mins: KR & RG emerge instantly on soft tyres
06mins: KR runs deep; has to spin the E20 round to get back on track but no damage
08mins: KR sits P4, RG P5 as the halfway stage approaches
10mins: Times begin to tumble; both drivers slide down the order
12mins: KR out on super soft rubber; RG follows suit shortly afterwards
16mins: KR goes fastest on the stickier tyres, ousted almost immediately by RG
20mins: Chequered flag; KR P3, RG P1

Qualifying 2 – Key Moments:

00mins: KR & RG straight out of the blocks on used super soft tyres
04mins: RG loses the rear end; clipping the wall with his left rear tyre but avoiding major damage
08mins: Both cars in the garage; KR P6, RG no time set after pitting early
09mins: RG out for a final fling on fresh super soft rubber, KR hot on his heels with the same tyres
12mins: RG posts a strong time to jump up to P3
14mins: KR fails to improve with his last attempt, dropping out of the top ten
15mins: Session ends: KR P12, RG P4

Qualifying 3 – Key Moments:

00mins: RG waits for the opportune moment to complete a single run, KR on the sidelines
06mins: RG finally emerges for his one shot at the sharp end of the grid
08mins: RG struggling with oversteer; big moment out of the chicane, scruffy lap overall
10mins: Chequered flag; RG starts from P8

Summary:

A smash and grab strategy for Romain in the top ten battle saw the Frenchman emerge for just a single attempt on the super soft tyres; his lap coming right at the death as a mass of cars aimed for the top spot.

Unfortunately for the reigning GP2 Series Champion, a rather untidy lap – including a big moment through one of the chicanes – saw Romain unable to improve his time from the previous session; eventually taking P8 on the grid for tomorrow’s race in front of the two Mercedes drivers who opted not to set a time.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Time         Gap   
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m46.362s           
 2.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m46.804s  + 0.442  
 3.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m46.905s  + 0.543  
 4.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m46.939s  + 0.577  
 5.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m47.216s  + 0.854  
 6.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m47.241s  + 0.879  
 7.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m47.475s  + 1.113  
 8.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m47.788s  + 1.426  
 9.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             no time              
10.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             no time              
Q2 cut-off time: 1m47.943s                                   Gap **
11.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m47.975s  + 1.310
12.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m48.261s  + 1.596
13.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m48.344s  + 1.679
14.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m48.505s  + 1.840
15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m48.774s  + 2.109
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m48.849s  + 2.184
17.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     no time
Q1 cut-off time: 1m49.809s                                    Gap *
18.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m49.933s  + 2.245
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m50.846s  + 3.158
20.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m51.137s  + 3.449
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m51.370s  + 3.682
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m51.762s  + 4.074
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m52.372s  + 4.684
24.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m53.355s  + 5.667

Lotus team quotes:

Kimi Raikkonen – 12th: “The car was much better overall today than it was yesterday. We were quick with the used tyres but for some reason struggled for grip with the new ones in the second session and we were actually slightly slower. For sure P12 is not the position we wanted; we don’t seem to have the speed to challenge the leaders here but the car is definitely quicker than that. We’ll see what we can do in the race.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “We’re disappointed with qualifying as we were hoping for a lot better than we achieved. We improved the car dramatically overnight and through today’s practice session. Romain was two tenths slower in Q3 than he had been in Q2, but we could all see where most of that time was lost on his lap. Kimi was slower on a fresh set of tyres than he was on a scrubbed set, but it’s not immediately apparent why this was the case. He looked in excellent shape with his scrubbed run. We found a much better setup in our analysis overnight and we continued in that direction through FP3, steadily improving the car with a further step made going into qualifying. Both drivers were pretty happy with the car at the end of practice today. The super soft compound is a lot faster than the soft tyre and it will need a big difference in degradation for the soft to be the preferred option in the race.”

Videos:

Kimi interview @ 4:11mins