Source: autosport.com | lotusf1team.com | twitter
Kimi and Romain ended the first day’s running at Suzuka in P14 and P6 respectively ; the former confined to the garage for much of the session with KERS issues while the latter completed a number of productive long runs in preparation for Sunday’s race.
FP2 Key Moments :
04mins : First stint on scrubbed hard tyres
18mins : Reports KERS issue ; returns to the garage for repairs
81mins : Returns to the rack for a brief final run on softs
85mins : A pair of tricky laps ; runs wide out of Degner 2, then again through the Spoon curve but recovers well on both occasions
FP2 Summary:
- Red flags interrupted proceedings for a 6min period early in the session ; Paul Di Resta coming to a halt in the barriers after spinning off at the Spoon curve
- Entry to the same corner caught out a number of other drivers throughout the session, including Michael Schumacher who parked his Mercedes in the wall bringing out yellow flags
- Kimi spent the majority of running time in the garage as the team assessed a KERS issue on his E20
- Both drivers used the silver marked hard and yellow marked soft compound tyres.
- The team worked with differing fuel loads and car setups to gather data ahead of Sunday’s race
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m32.493 34 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m32.707s + 0.214 32 3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m32.836s + 0.343 37 4. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m32.987s + 0.494 30 5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m33.093s + 0.600 28 6. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m33.107s + 0.614 35 7. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m33.349s + 0.856 22 8. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m33.499s + 1.006 35 9. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m33.614s + 1.121 32 10. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m33.750s + 1.257 13 11. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m33.866s + 1.373 19 12. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m33.903s + 1.410 36 13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m33.9$3s + 1.490 33 14. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m34.291s + 1.798 12 15. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m34.300s + 1.807 33 16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m34.863s + 2.370 32 17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m35.080s + 2.587 34 18. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m35.711s + 3.218 41 19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m35.870s + 3.377 37 20. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m36.194s + 3.701 32 21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m36.636s + 4.143 28 22. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m37.342s + 4.849 30 23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m37.701s + 5.208 35 24. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes No time 2
A warm, dry and bright start to the Japanese Grand Prix weekend saw Kimi and Romain end Free Practice 1 in P13 and P14 respectively as the team’s ‘Device’ made its long awaited return to the E20 at the Suzuka circuit.
FP1 Key Moments :
00mins : Install lap on hard rubber
29mins : Short on-track blast ; analysis of ‘The Device’ the priority
42mins : An action replay of the first stint ; more upgrade assessment on the schedule
61mins : Third run ; longer this time with hard tyres selected once again
75mins : Setup adjustments back in the garage
80mins : Last stint of the session
FP1 Summary:
- ‘The Device’ was fitted to Kimi’s car for the first time since Spa, with the Finn conducting extensive analysis of the upgrade throughout the session
- Romain trialled a new rear wing configuration
- Both cars ran revised front wing designs
- The silver marked hard compound Pirelli tyre was used exclusively by both drivers throughout proceedings
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m34.507s 20 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m34.740s + 0.233 26 3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m34.856s + 0.349 24 4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m35.059s + 0.552 18 5. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m35.112s + 0.615 20 6. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m35.199s + 0.692 27 7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m35.283s + 0.776 24 8. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m35.299s + 0.792 18 9. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m35.474s + 0.967 22 10. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m35.478s + 0.971 24 11. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m35.484s + 0.977 26 12. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m35.584s + 1.077 24 13. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m35.691s + 1.184 22 14. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m35.724s + 1.217 21 15. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m36.123s + 1.616 19 16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m36.222s + 1.715 25 17. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m36.366s + 1.859 23 18. Valterri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m36.389s + 1.882 24 19. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m37.716s + 3.209 17 20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m38.295s + 3.788 23 21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m38.616s + 4.109 25 22. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m39.043s + 4.536 25 23. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m39.374s + 4.867 22 24. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m39.688s + 5.181 19
Kimi Raikkonen – 14th: “We didn’t get much running because of the issue with the KERS, but at least it happened today and we got it fixed. It wasn’t ideal for helping us find the best setup but there’s nothing you can do about these things. Suzuka is not the easiest place to get the car set up, but we still have tomorrow’s practice before qualifying. I think we have the potential to be nearer the front than we have done in the last couple of races.”
Romain Grosjean – 6th: “Not a bad day overall. The car felt much better in the afternoon than it did this morning ; we’re still not quite where we want to be but the team has been working hard and hopefully we’ll make a similar step forward tomorrow. Suzuka is not an easy track on the car ; the demands on the tyres are really high but the car felt consistent with both compounds which is a big positive. It’s hard to say if P6 is the kind of position we’ll be in qualifying ; there are definitely still a few tenths we can find so let’s see what happens tomorrow.”
James Allison, Technical Director: “We suffered a disrupted day with Kimi’s car but despite that we’ve achieved a reasonable amount. We evaluated ‘The Device’ in the morning but were unable to make it switch effectively so we won’t be using it for the rest of the weekend. Romain suffered from understeer in the morning and by the time we had put this right he had already used up the best performance from his tyres. In the afternoon, with a better set up, he showed that there’s still a reasonable turn of speed in the E20. We look in OK shape on both the hard and soft rubber as well as on high fuel, and we feel there is more to come from the car tomorrow ahead of Qualifying.”
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN SPACE 