Kimi Räikkönen will have his first front row start since the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix after qualifying second for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit. Kimi set a 1min 34.761secs lap using Pirelli’s soft compound tyre and will start alongside Lewis Hamilton for the 56 lap race. Romain Grosjean was also comfortably inside the top ten, with a Q3 time of 1min 35.364secs placing him sixth on the grid.
Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03. Q: P2, 1:34.761. FP3: P7, 1:36.605
"This is my best qualifying for the team which is good, but of course you always want to be on pole."
“This is my best qualifying for the team which is good, but of course you always want to be on pole. It’s been quite a tricky weekend so far and we’ve had a few small issues with setup, but it’s always difficult to get things exactly how you want them and the car seems to be working well now. The tyres will of course be the question mark tomorrow; some people are starting on the primes but we chose the strategy we think will work best. Hopefully we can keep managing the degradation well like we have so far this season and have a good race tomorrow.”
"The engineers have been working hard and did a fantastic job."
“Friday was difficult and we missed some time on Saturday morning so it’s been a challenging weekend, but I’m finally back in business. We’ve been chasing some small problems here and there, but the engineers have been working hard and did a fantastic job to get the car to where it is now. My first lap on options in Q1 was actually my first of the weekend with those tyres so we had to guess a little on the set up, but I think we did pretty well. Of course you always want to do better, but overall I’m pleased. The car was much better this afternoon so let’s see what we can do in the race.”
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
"We’re obviously very happy with the result today."
How was qualifying for the team? We’re obviously very happy with the result today. Kimi has been comfortable with his car pretty much all weekend; not so much this morning when a small set up change was made, but that was reversed and he was back where we wanted to be.
What was the problem with Romain’s car? Romain had a difficult morning but with no real issues; just circumstantial problems which put things on hold briefly. He went into qualifying with a car that was unchanged from this morning, so bearing in mind his earlier tribulations he did a great job to take P6.
What are the considerations the for race strategy? We’ve done all our race preparation and run work so we know where we are in terms of both the soft and the medium compound tyres; we’re pretty confident on strategy and looking forward to running a very strong race.
What is possible tomorrow? From second and sixth anything is possible; we will certainly be pushing to get both drivers on the podium with one of them on the top step.
wohooooo P2!!! I'm so happy with that!! can't wait for the race now!
I was at Malaysian GP 3 weeks ago, it was amazing!! although it was not a good race for Kimi... my friend said that maybe Kimi will win all the other races expect the one I was watching live.. it would be kinda hilarious BUT I wouldn't mind haha
ZitatSECOND PLACE NEVER ENOUGH FOR KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN He may have clinched his best qualifying result since the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix, but when your name is Kimi Räikkönen only the best will do...
CLEAR SKIES ABOVE AND A CLEAR TRACK AHEAD; YOU MUST BE PLEASED WITH THE RESULT TODAY? This is my best qualifying for the team which is good, but of course you always want to be on pole. I don’t think it was better than expected; the car hasn’t changed much from the first two races, but then the weather meant we didn’t get the most from it. For sure there are still a few things we can improve, but the speed is there.
HOW IS THE CAR FEELING? It’s been quite a tricky weekend so far and we’ve had a few small issues with setup, but it’s always difficult to get things exactly how you want them and the car has worked well when it matters. I’ve sometimes been happy with the car and sometimes not so much; in the end we ran with a similar setup to the one that worked best in Malaysia. It felt good in qualifying so hopefully it will be the same tomorrow.
LOOKING BACK ON QUALIFYING, THERE SEEM TO BE A MIX OF STRATEGIES ACROSS THE GRID; ARE YOU CONFIDENT THE TEAM HAS PICKED THE RIGHT ONE? We’ll be running through the strategy tonight to see what will be the best plan. The tyres will of course be the question mark. A lot of people are complaining about them but I don’t think they’ve changed so much from last year and it’s the same for everybody. Some people are starting on the primes but I don’t really care what the others do; we chose the strategy we think will work best. Hopefully we can keep managing the degradation well like we have so far this season and have a good race tomorrow.
DO YOU THINK VICTORY IS WITHIN REACH TOMORROW? We’re starting from a good position, but is it going to be enough to push for first place tomorrow? It’s difficult to say. This year it seems things can change from one day to the next. Sometimes it can go your way and sometimes it doesn’t, so we just have to do our best tomorrow and hopefully we’ll have the speed to challenge for the win.
I criticised Lotus about sendin Raikkonen out very early compared to te rest. Seemed to have worked, although helped by Rosberg making a mistake. Then it probably would have been a Mercedes walkover.
Ferrari's didn't seem to impress as I thought they would, considering that they were last out, Massa failed quite badly, go my hopes up for nothing.
Did no one find it weird that button actually set a slow lap on the medium tyres rather than doing sector times? A bit pointless.
As for Webber, hehe. I usually leav a top runner out of the predictions, and he was one of them for the muzzleague so :D
Not sure it would be wise to break the curfew this early on in the season. Should just start him from the pitlane.
Ricciardo did well, Force India's weren't as good as I thought they would be.
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Sat Apr 13, 2013 10:03 am
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