Kimi Raikkonen believes he could have had a pole position – Formula 1 news
Kimi Raikkonen said that Lotus had the potential to secure a pole position at the Malaysian Grand Prix but due to some driver mistakes he was unable to do so.
“The car was working well today,” Raikkonen said. “Unfortunately, I made a couple of mistakes on my fastest lap which probably cost a couple of tenths. Without that, we were in with a shout for pole today. I got a little bit sideways at the exit of turn
nine and we lost some time, but that's how it goes sometimes.”
“We had some issues with KERS yesterday, but there was no repeat today; the car worked exactly as it should and it felt good. It's a shame we have a penalty on the grid but the car works well. Today was definitely a positive day. Tomorrow we start from tenth
and will try to improve from there,” he added.
Lotus have been suffering from poor luck since the season began, and are hoping for an improved result at the second race of the season in Malaysia. Raikkonen only managed fifth fastest time of the day but after a five grid penalty due to a gearbox change
drops him down to 10th. The difference between him and the pole holder Lewis Hamilton was only 0.242 seconds which will give him hope.
Lotus technical director James Allison was upbeat over the team’s chances for the second race of the season and said that by looking at all the data it is going to be a strong race from the Lotus camp.
The main thing would be to handle the tyres right, both the drivers are confident and feel positive and if the weather remains solid both the drivers should be amongst points.
Allison explained the gearbox problem and said that the high temperatures on Raikkonen’s car caused the problem, he was fine in Australia and the team checked the gearbox after the race and everything looked good, but there was a problem with it and there
is a new gearbox in place now.
It will be interesting to see how the team fares on race day.
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