| Source: lotusf1team.com |
With plenty of work to do after a tough Saturday – compounded by a tricky start to the race – our Iceman found himself fighting all the way to claim an impressive fifth place at Suzuka. Here’s his view on proceedings…
Q: HOW WAS YOUR RACE?
KR: I had a very poor start where I left the line with a lot of wheelspin and lost a few places. This wasn’t ideal and it meant I got stuck in traffic, but I managed to gain some places back later on. It was a pretty normal race I would say and it’s good that we got some points.
Q: WHAT WAS YOUR FEELING LIKE WITH THE CAR?
KR: It was ok – a big improvement from Friday for sure – but it was hard to show our real pace at the beginning as I was stuck behind slower cars for quite a long time. After the final pit stop when I got a bit of free air the car was working much better. It ran well in the last half of the race and I was very happy with it.
Q: YOU PULLED OFF SOME PRETTY IMPRESSIVE PASSES; PARTICULARLY ON THE SAUBER AT THE END THERE…
KR: Unfortunately when you don’t have an ideal qualifying it makes life a bit harder on Sunday. It’s not easy to overtake here and we weren’t so fast in a straight line which made it more tricky, but I got past a few people which was important after the slow start. With Nico [Hulkenberg] I managed to get a good run on him leading up to the chicane which is what made the difference. We did what we could.
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN SPACE 
Personally, I am not surprised at Romain’s current form. I think once Kimi made his 2014 decision, Lotus switched all its attention on Grosjean. Kimi is not famous for his quali record but lately its gone from bad to worst, and I think some of it has to do with technical issues. In today’s high tech world, its almost impossible that they haven’t identified where Kimi’s problems in quali are. Compared to others, Kimi is not too aggresive on the car hence his quali record this year. He takes his time in warming the car and the Lotus engine is more suitable for long runs. I think they made the car more suitable to Romain’s aggresive driving style than kimi’s. Why wouldn’t they, since kimi is leaving….
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Very good analysis Gio, i agree with on most points. Yea quali is getting from bad to worse n its so frustrating. Starts also haven’t been great. Clearly tyre-temperature is hurting as he can’t fully exploit them on quali while others manage to since there are more aggressive with their tyre. I’ll be curious to see Kimi’s tyre compared to RG after quali, i’m sure Kimi’s ones are in better shape than him. Maybe he should be more aggressive with the throttle in quali but its not his driving-style. A 5th place on the grid ysterday n he would have been hard to beat. However Gio, i dnt think the team made the car more to RG’s liking, remember how he was battling with the car in the opening races n i dnt think they have modified the car when Kimi signed with Ferrari. For sure the comments of EB n Permane didn’t help but Kimi is too strong to be affected by that. They still want Kimi to bring points since they are still fighting in Constructor’s Championship n good results will help them get sponsors. RG needs attention n confidence so thats y he’s being praised lately by EB n Permane, a shame they did by treating Kimi like a shit. Iceman will bounce back in India.
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I don´t .like to be paranoid, but for sure Lotus makes everything to let Gro to shine! They know, Kimi´s doing his job perfectly, brings the points home always – not too much, but that´s good enough (less money to pay to him!!) Let´s see the next 4 races: Kimi´s giving everything for Lotus, what Lotus will do…..??
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