Kimi Raikkonen reckons Lotus must improve qualifying pace to achieve victory – Formula 1 news
Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen has said that they earnestly need to improve their qualifying pace in order to achieve victory in the 2012 Formula 1 season.
Raikkonen took part in the World Rally Championship during the last couple of years and returned to the sport with the Enstone based team in the current season. He has performed amazingly well for his team in his first year of comeback as he has successfully
secured five podium finishes in the season so far.
However, with all the competitiveness, the Finnish driver has not been able to score a grand prix win in the season until now.
Furthermore, he expressed that he is feeling disappointed over his inability to claim victory in the first half of the season and said that they can only win a race if they improve their performance in the qualifying.
“It's a bit disappointing that we cannot (win),” said Raikkonen. “We have not been so strong in qualifying and we keep making it very hard for ourselves on Sundays.”
In addition, he said that if they start the race from a higher grid slot, only then they have a better chance to win it.
“We still keep putting ourselves in a good position to at least have a chance to win and get good results, good points for the team,” he said.
Nevertheless, he said that they have been making the best of the efforts to enhance their qualifying pace and are hoping to score some good points in the season ahead.
“If it comes it's great, if not, we keep trying. I've been in the business long enough that I don't really worry about things too much. We improved our position, our situation in the Championship for myself and for the team,” he added.
Presently, he is standing at 5th position in the drivers’ rankings with 116 points. Besides, he is ahead of Nico Rosberg of Mercedes and is behind Lewis Hamilton of McLaren.
The 2007 world champion is surely one of the most competent drivers in this year’s championship battle and it will be exciting to see how he shows up in the forthcoming races after the summer smash.
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