Source: autosport.com | lotusf1team.com | twitter
Lotus showed very strong form in fourth and fifth with Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, although the former will drop back five places due to a gearbox change penalty.
Summary
- Significantly warmer conditions after a chilled morning practice session saw lap times rapidly tumble
- The session began with Romain’s car still in the garage as the team completed a gearbox change
- The white marked medium compound Pirelli tyres were used by both drivers through each phase
- Both Kimi and Romain progressed easily from Q1, making a relatively straightforward passage to Q3 shortly afterwards
- Romain will take a five place grid penalty following his gearbox change from FP3
Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05
Position: Q1 – P12 / Q2 – P10 / Q3 – P4
Best Time: Q1 – 1:38.051 / Q2 – 1:37.404 / Q3 – 1:36.708
Laps Completed: Q1 – 11 / Q2 – 20 / Q3 – 26
Key Moments:
Q1 – 00mins: Straight out of the box for a banker run on hard tyres
Q1 – 07mins: Drops through the pit lane for a switch to medium rubber
Q1 – 10mins: Goes P2 at the halfway stage; narrowly behind his team-mate
Q1 – 20mins: Safely graduates from the first phase in P11
Q2 – 00mins: Immediately departs the garage on scrubbed mediums
Q2 – 03mins: Slippery moment through T19 but recovers to set a strong initial lap
Q2 – 09mins: Consistent improvements over a relatively long stint to sneak inside the top ten
Q2 – 12mins: Emerges for another run; fails to improve
Q2 – 15mins: Edges through to the final session in P10
Q3 – 04mins: Begins first stint on fresh medium rubber; fairly average opening attempt
Q3 – 08mins: Leaves it late to complete final run; significant improvement to break into the top five
Q3 – 10mins: Chequered flag; P5 for the Finn
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m35.657s 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m35.766s + 0.109 3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m36.174s + 0.517 4. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m36.587s + 1.051 5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m36.708s + 1.137 6. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m36.794s + 1.280 7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m36.937s + 1.484 8. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m37.141s + 1.643 9. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m37.300s + 0.930 10. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m37.842s + 2.185 Q2 cut-off time: 1m37.404s Gap ** 11. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m37.604s + 1.808 12. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m37.616s + 1.820 13. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m37.665s + 1.869 14. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m37.879s + 2.083 15. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.206s + 2.410 16. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.437s + 2.641 17. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m38.501s + 2.705 Q1 cut-off time: 1m38.862s Gap * 18. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m39.114s + 2.556 19. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m40.056s + 3.498 20. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m40.664s + 4.106 21. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m40.809s + 4.251 22. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m41.166s + 4.608 23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m42.011s + 5.453 24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m42.740s + 6.182
Kimi Raikkonen – 5th: “I was actually expecting a more difficult qualifying session today, but the car was the best it’s felt all weekend so it turned out to be quite good. The set-up is still not exactly how I want it but it’s much closer. The warmer conditions make the car work much better and that certainly makes a difference. Starting on the dirty side of the grid maybe isn’t the best; we’ll have to hope that the circuit picks up a little more grip for the race tomorrow.”
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN SPACE 