| Source: autosport.com | lotusf1team.com |
A solid qualifying session for Kimi and Romain at the Circuit de Catalunya saw them take P4 / P7 ahead of tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix. Here’s how it happened…
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m20.718s
2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m20.972s + 0.254s
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m21.054s + 0.336s
4. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m21.177s + 0.459s
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m21.218s + 0.500s
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m21.219s + 0.501s
7. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m21.308s + 0.590s
8. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m21.570s + 0.852s
9. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m22.069s + 1.351s
10. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m22.233s + 1.515s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m22.019s Gap **
11. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m22.127s + 1.126s
12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m22.166s + 1.165s
13. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m22.346s + 1.345s
14. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m23.166s + 2.165s
15. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.389s + 1.388s
16. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m22.793s + 1.792s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m23.218s Gap *
17. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m23.260s + 1.532s
18. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m23.318s + 1.590s
19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m24.661s + 2.933s
20. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m24.713s + 2.985s
21. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m24.996s + 3.268s
22. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m25.070s + 3.342s
Saturday News & Quotes:
Spanish GP: final starting grid
Massa and Gutierrez get penalties
Raikkonen expecting business as usual:
“I think it is going to be normal chances. We have to make a good start and then try to make the best laps. Mercedes is consistently not as strong in the races as they are in qualifying, so we’ll do our best and see where we end up. It has been pretty OK all weekend. For sure we didn’t have the speed of Mercedes, but we have seen that in the last few races they are very strong in qualifying so we did pretty okay. It is very close between the cars here, and you really have to make the best out of it. I think it is pretty OK. We are a bit better than we were in the last race. I don’t know what the others are doing and don’t know our plan yet. We see what we are going to do, and how it is at the beginning of the race. I don’t think we can do less stops than the others.”
“That was more or less all we could do today. I didn’t make any mistakes on my fastest lap so that was pretty much all there was to come from the car. I wouldn’t say it was a perfect lap, but I don’t think we would have been much higher up the order if it had been. The Mercedes, as we’ve seen before, seems to be pretty fast in qualifying but hopefully in the race we can turn it around. Our race pace has been pretty good all year so let’s try and get on the podium. I’ll have to make a good start, then let’s see what happens.”
Kimi Raikkonen – 4th: “That was more or less all we could do today. I didn’t make any mistakes on my fastest lap so that was pretty much all there was to come from the car. I wouldn’t say it was a perfect lap, but I don’t think we would have been much higher up the order if it had been. The Mercedes, as we’ve seen before, seems to be pretty fast in qualifying but hopefully in the race we can turn it around. Our race pace has been pretty good all year so let’s try and get on the podium. I’ll have to make a good start, then let’s see what happens.”
Romain Grosjean – sixth: “We did a good job today throughout qualifying but on my last lap I made a mistake into turn one, so I decided to back off and save the tyres. Otherwise, I think we could have done a bit better and maybe sit one or two rows further towards the front. I was happy with the car and all the work we’ve done since Friday. For tomorrow, we will see what happens as the competition is very tight. As we have seen, conditions are variable this weekend and once more the tyres should be key.”
Alan Permane, trackside operations director: “We’re pretty happy with today’s performance. We made some changes from yesterday then had a productive morning validating them on track. It was a reasonably straight-forward qualifying session with both cars saving two sets of the medium tyres for Q3 and no real dramas to speak of. Unfortunately Romain had a lock-up on his last lap, otherwise he would have been right on Kimi’s pace, but to have the slower of our two cars starting from P6 certainly isn’t a cause for concern.”
“Looking at race strategy, does the new hard compound or allocation of the hard and medium present any issues? It doesn’t cause us any problems. The new hard compound seems better suited to this track than the previous version, certainly with the temperatures we’ve experienced here. It works well for us. The allocation of the hard and medium compounds is not a life changing scenario either.”
“P4 and P6 starting positions are pretty decent for us when you consider the race pace and tyre management we’ve been able to show so far this season. There’s certainly the potential to have a very good race tomorrow.”
On Twitter:
@Lotus_F1Team P4 for #Kimi, was fastest in first two sectors but got Saubered at the end of the lap #CatchTheBull #Q1 pic.twitter.com/69SWMlFm3W
@F1PitRadio Kimi, “The Sauber blocked me completely…was a stupid move”
@KimiFanPage David Coulthard: “Kimi is clearly a very naturally gifted racer.”
@adamcooperf1 Kimi Raikkonen: “I think we did more or less our maximum. You always can improve in some places, but it’s hard to get it right always.”
@alanbaldwinf1: Reaching out to Kimi (and I still couldn’t hear a word he said) http://twitpic.com/cptos6
@RenaultSportF1 Kimi Raikkonen was visiting Renault guests after qualifications today! @Lotus_F1Team pic.twitter.com/Ml5gHKzhHr
Video: Q3 Lap onboard
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN SPACE 
i think kimi is in a fairly decent position given his long run pace.
If He wants to win there are some key factors for the start.
Firstly – He’s on the dirty side of the track, so immediately he’s compromised, therefore he needs to stay ahead of Fernando
Secondly – We expect the mercs tires to drop off, He needs to match Seb in how quickly Seb gets by the mercs around 8 – 9 laps into the race
Thirdly – Using the race pace and consistency he has on both tires will see him beat the bull and the horse
LikeLike
Hi, nice post 🙂 totally agree, the Ferraris are really quick at the starts too so I won’t be surprised if he loses a spot or two… 😦
LikeLike
Hi ppl, wrote to the forum but it doesn’t hurt to write here as well.. Due to illness of the intended ticketholder I’ve got one Gold ticket extra on stand E which I would sell for the price I got it with (250 EUR). If you’re interested write me at jbach101@gmail.com until tomorrow morning. Only hours left till GP but you never know..
LikeLike
there’s a bit of swagger about kimi’s comments, eagerly awaiting this race iam
LikeLike