Abu Dhabi GP: Raikkonen sent to back of grid

| Source: adamcooperf1.com | autosport.com |

Kimi Raikkonen has been excluded from qualifying after his car failed a floor deflection test in Abu Dhabi. He will be allowed to start from the back of the grid.

In Hungary a similar thing happened with Romain Grosjean, but the stewards accepted that the floor was damaged.

However this time the circumstances were different – in effect it was not the first time it had happened – and thus the car was deemed to have failed to comply with the regulations.

Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg is therefore elevated into the top five, while the decision also brings Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso into the top 10 after his poor qualifying result.

In last year’s Abu Dhabi GP, eventual world champion Sebastian Vettel came through from last to third after being excluded from qualifying.

Lotus statement:

“The team respects the Stewards’ decision and will do everything in its power to ensure Kimi and the team gets the best result possible after starting from the back of the grid in The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix,” said Team Principal, Eric Boullier. “No advantage was sought or gained in the incident and the relevant part has been replaced.

“We’ve seen what Kimi can do to work through the field when he needs to and we are going all out for the strongest result possible.”

21G Impact cause of damaged floorboard

Kimi’s engineer Mark Slade told Finnish newspaper TurunSanomat that Kimi’s car experienced a 21G impact riding over a kerb in qualifying which caused damage to the floorboard that failed FIA tests after qualifying.

Revised Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying results:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car               Time       Gap
 1.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault       1m39.957s
 2.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault       1m40.075s  +0.118s
 3.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes               1m40.419s  +0.462s
 4.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes               1m40.501s  +0.544s
 5.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber-Ferrari         1m40.576s  +0.619s
 6.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus-Renault          1m40.997s  +1.040s
 7.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari                1m41.015s  +1.058s
 8.  Sergio Perez         McLaren-Mercedes       1m41.068s  +1.111s
 9.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m41.111s  +1.154s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m40.989s                                    Gap **
10.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari                1m41.093s  +0.620s
11.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes   1m41.133s  +0.660s
12.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes       1m41.200s  +0.727s
13.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m41.279s  +0.806s
14.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Renault       1m41.395s  +0.922s
15.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams-Renault       1m41.447s  +0.974s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m41.884s                                    Gap *
16.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari         1m41.999s  +1.306s
17.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes   1m42.051s  +1.358s
18.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault       1m43.252s  +2.559s
19.  Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth      1m43.398s  +2.705s
20.  Charles Pic          Caterham-Renault       1m43.528s  +2.835s
21.  Max Chilton          Marussia-Cosworth      1m44.198s  +3.505s
22.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault          1m40.542s  +0.585s***

Raikkonen car fails floor test post-qualifying – Lotus team members have been summoned to the stewards after Raikkonen’s car did not pass a floor deflection test after he qualified fifth for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. A statement from the stewards said: “car number seven [Raikkonen] did not comply with Article 3.17.5 of the 2013 FIA Formula One Technical Regulations as the front floor deflected more than 5mm vertically when the load was applied vertically to it at the point which lies 100mm of car centre line on the [left-hand side].”