James Allison: Lotus trying hard to provide Kimi Raikkonen with perfect equipment – Formula 1 news
Lotus technical director, James Allison has said that they are working at their best to provide their driver, Kimi Raikkonen, the perfect equipment for the Chinese Grand Prix which is going to be held at Shanghai International Circuit on April 15, 2012.
“Our latest set-up now gives Kimi sufficient assistance in the high speed, high load corners, but we still have yet to give him a power steering unit which offers the finesse he wants ... We are working hard to provide him with perfect equipment so that
he can deliver those last few tenths in qualifying,” said Allison.
Raikkonen has made his comeback in F1 this year with Lotus after spending the last couple of years racing in the World Rally Championship.
The Finnish has enjoyed an incredible first season after his return as he secured seventh and fifth place finish in the first two races of the season held at Albert Circuit in Melbourne, Australia and Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia even after failing
to qualify for a competitive grid position.
Conversely, Michael Schumacher of Mercedes AMG had a struggling first year after he made his comeback in F1 while he was completely outperformed by his teammate, Nico Rosberg.
Moreover, Raikkonen attributed his incredible return as compared to the seven-time world champion, Schumacher, to the capability of his car E20 and said, “He (Schumacher) was not so lucky. The (Lotus) car is good. Whether it's good enough for victory or
not, I don't know. At least we are not far away from the top.”
In addition, he said that they have a car competent enough to come at the front.
“The car feels good and we clearly have the pace to be at the front,” said Raikkonen.
Besides, Allison has said that they hoping to see improvement in the pace of the car in the third GP after the developments they have made during the three weeks time.
He added that their earnest focus right now is to improve the timings of pit stops during the race while he said that they are trying to enhance their performance in each and every area.
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