Lotus will give a tough time to all the contenders in 2012 Formula 1 World Championship
Lotus stand amongst one of the most competent teams in the 2012 Formula 1 World Championship with their perfect combination of experienced and talented pair of drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean.
They had a successful pre-season testing programme this year and have performed quite convincingly in the season so far. At present, they are standing at third place in the constructors’ championship with 192 points. Furthermore, they are ahead of Scuderia-Ferrari
and are behind their main rival, McLaren-Mercedes.
Meanwhile, their driver Kimi Raikkonen is at fifth position in the drivers’ rankings with 116 points and is just a point behind the 2008 world champion, Lewis Hamilton of McLaren. Moreover, he has a strong lead over Nico Rosberg of Mercedes, however, he
is still far behind the leading driver, Fernando Alonso of Ferrari who has won three races in the season until now.
The Finnish driver has surprised everyone with his return in the sport after racing in the World Rally Championship for last two years. He has secured five podium finishes in the first eleven races and has managed to score some considerable points for his
team.
It will be important to mention that the 2007 world champion has been deemed as a major rival by the team principal of Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner who admired his performance in the first half of the season. Besides, he said that the Finn has got the
potential to win the championship title with his competent car.
Additionally, former F1 driver, Karl Wendlinger has also said that he is very much impressed by Raikkonen and said that he will surely give a tough time to the drivers in the front.
On the other hand, Grosjean is currently at eighth place in the drivers’ standings with 76 points along with Jenson Button of McLaren. Moreover, he is ahead of Sergio Perez of Sauber and is behind the German driver, Rosberg.
The French driver has secured three podium finishes in the first eleven grands prix. Although, he has retired in four races, nonetheless, he has scored reasonable points for his team.
The Enstone based team is undoubtedly a potential candidate in this season’s title fight. Even though, they have a very capable car and amazingly talented drivers, however, they have not been able to score a race win so far due to poor qualifying performances.
Nevertheless, the team principal of Lotus, Eric Boullier has recently said that they are pushing really hard to perform well in the qualifying of the approaching races in order to secure competitive grid slots to achieve victory and to improve their position
in the championship fight.
Over and above, he said that they are targeting to claim their first victory of the current season in the Belgian GP after the summer break.
“Qualifying for us could have been better and every part of the weekend. It's good to be in a position to start fifth and be chasing the leader for nearly twenty laps. We knew here it is difficult to overtake, but if the same scenario had happened in Spa
or one of the races after then definitely we would win the race,” he said. “It's definitely not frustrating, definitely encouraging. Because on a different track layout Romain was capable of overtaking Lewis in the first stint and Kimi would have been able
to overtake Lewis in second stint and one-two was possible.”
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer’s and do not reflect bettor.com’s official editorial policy.
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