Italian Grand Prix – Friday Practice Results

| Source: autosport.com | lotusf1team.com |

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FP2 Times – Report: Kimi Räikkönen ended the day with the third fastest time on the opening day of the Italian Grand Prix weekend, with Romain Grosjean fourth in the order with an identical lap time of 1min 25.116secs. Sunny weather characterised both of today’s sessions at the historic Autodromo di Monza.

Technical programme notes:

• Kimi ran all day with the longer chassis configuration E21.
• Both cars ran with the slimline rear bodywork package in low drag Monza.
• Kimi evaluated a different front wing in the afternoon.
• Pirelli’s hard (orange) tyre was used in the morning and the hard and medium (white) compound slick tyres were used in the afternoon session.

Pos Driver                Team                    Time        Gap    Laps
 1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault        1m24.453s           39
 2. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault        1m25.076s  +0.623s  39
 3. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault           1m25.116s  +0.663s  36
 4. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault           1m25.116s  +0.663s  40
 5. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                 1m25.330s  +0.877s  38
 6. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes                1m25.340s  +0.887s  39
 7. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                1m25.367s  +0.914s  42
 8. Felipe Massa          Ferrari                 1m25.519s  +1.066s  29
 9. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1m25.532s  +1.079s  42
10. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes        1m25.627s  +1.174s  39
11. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes    1m25.830s  +1.377s  40
12. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari          1m25.888s  +1.435s  40
13. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1m26.028s  +1.575s  37
14. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault        1m26.138s  +1.685s  36
15. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m26.224s  +1.771s  32
16. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari          1m26.385s  +1.932s  43
17. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m26.599s  +2.146s  39
18. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault        1m27.198s  +2.745s  44
19. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth       1m27.548s  +3.095s  30
20. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault        1m27.696s  +3.243s  37
21. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault        1m27.771s  +3.318s  38
22. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth       1m28.057s  +3.604s  32

FP1 Times – FP1 Report: Kimi Raikkonen ended the session fifth fastest driving the new long-wheelbase specification Lotus E21, believed to be around 100mm longer than the previous car, for the first time.

Pos Driver                Team                    Time      Gap     Laps
 1. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes                1m25.565s          24
 2. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                 1m25.600s +0.035s  25
 3. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                1m25.704s +0.139s  25
 4. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault        1m25.753s +0.188s  26
 5. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault           1m25.941s +0.376s  22
 6. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes        1m26.007s +0.442s  24
 7. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1m26.035s +0.470s  23
 8. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault        1m26.103s +0.538s  27
 9. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault        1m26.149s +0.584s  21
10. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m26.155s +0.590s  25
11. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari          1m26.194s +0.629s  25
12. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault           1m26.295s +0.730s  23
13. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m26.387s +0.822s  21
14. Felipe Massa          Ferrari                 1m26.449s +0.884s  16
15. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes    1m26.594s +1.029s  13
16. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault        1m26.802s +1.237s  21
17. James Calado          Force India-Mercedes    1m27.041s +1.476s  24
18. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari          1m27.224s +1.659s  16
19. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault        1m27.818s +2.253s  24
20. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth       1m27.869s +2.304s  20
21. Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault        1m28.192s +2.627s  21
22. Rodolfo Gonzalez      Marussia-Cosworth       1m29.526s +3.961s  26

Lotus Friday Quotes:
Kimi Räikkönen – 5th/3rd: “The car felt pretty normal for me today and we’re going to look at the data in order to make a decision on whether to use today’s specification or the older one. It doesn’t feel much different to me so it’ll be a decision based on what the data says. Today we were a little surprised to be third fastest, but we’re still quite far away from the fastest cars. There are still some areas for improvement so hopefully we can find more speed for tomorrow.”
Romain Grosjean – 12th/4th: “We had a productive day today. The timesheets showed that Kimi and I were very close, however that doesn’t necessarily mean a lot. Kimi tested the new long wheelbase car and from today’s work we have sent data back to the factory and we will see what the outcome is when analysis comes back. As drivers, our feedback on the feel of the car is also key. It is hard to precisely compare the two though; it could provide more brake stability which is what we all want here in Monza, however each driver also has their own braking style.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “That was a fairly straightforward Friday for us with both cars evenly matched and both drivers happy. We’ve completed a good amount of low and high fuel runs as well as evaluating the two tyre compounds for race strategy. Romain was happy on longer runs whilst Kimi’s afternoon session was slightly interrupted with an engine water pressure issue during his long run, but this was no big drama. Overall, the car looks quick, reliable and we’re happy today.”