Romain Grosjean had cause to be positive after completing a race simulation during testing today.
He made four pit stops during the 66-lap run, which included a 24-lap stint:
“That was quite an impressive stint,” he said after today’s test. “We tried to work as hard as we could and speak with the guys on the radio, try to see what we could do to help the tyres to last longer.”
Grosjean said managing the tyre degradation was “very hard” during his Grand Prix-length run.
“I think the first stint I came on the radio on lap two saying ‘the tyres are dead’,” he said. “But there were 66 laps to do.”
“So I try to do the best, try to adapt our driving style, it’s not easy to be honest.
“I think the conditions doesn’t help, or are not representative of what we should get. The cold here doesn’t make it easy for the tyres but it’s very different from what we had last year and we have to change a lot of things to make it work perfectly.”
He said the medium compound tyre gave the best results and described how the nature of tyre degradation has changed with the 2013-specification Pirellis:
“It’s quite different from lat year to be honest. Last year we struggle a lot with the rear tyres degrading, this year is more front and rear we’ve got a lot of graining.
“It makes it different to adapt and you have to change your driving style. It was good for me today to have a lot of laps to try to adapt myself, try to understand and for the engineers to see as well where we could go and what was the communication like and and whether the tyres are going away or not.”
“It’s hard to explain exactly and to feel it,” he added. “It’s really a question of trying to keep the rubber on the tyre. And to do that just guessing the amount of energy you have to put into it and try to not go over the limit for them.”
Grosjean believes the handling of the E21 has improved from being designed from the outset to feature a ‘Coanda’-style exhaust: “High-speed [cornering] feels better than last year.”
“When we swapped to the Coanda exhaust last year the car was not as easy to drive as the first one we had. But we bring it quite late and I think this year’s car’s a little bit more designed around that aspect and makes it enjoyable into fast corners.”
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JCost (@jcost)
21st February 2013, 20:38
I think E21 is a championship contender. Grosjean is impressively fast, if he manages trouble-free starts I think he has the potential to upset Kimi…
mhop (@mhop)
21st February 2013, 23:32
If I wasn’t opposed to giving betting companies money I would be tempted to put a bet on Grosjean to win the WDC this year.
I saw odds of 100/1 or something? That’s crazy.
I think there’s a decent chance that the Lotus might be this year’s fastest car (certainly in the top 3), and I really wouldn’t be surprised if he manages to regularly outpace Raikkonnen this year. We saw him do it on a few occasions last year – before he had his wings well and truly clipped.
Chris (@tophercheese21)
22nd February 2013, 2:05
We know how consistent Kimi is, so if Grosjean can be consistent as well, there’s no reason why Lotus can’t challenge Redbull for the constructors.
victor (@genevene)
22nd February 2013, 2:35
he claim the car was harder to drive after implemented with Coanda last year.
Kimi went on and win abu dhabi without moaning about how difficult to drive the car!
That explained their differences!!
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd February 2013, 8:16
That is just nonsense @genevene. Kimi also mentioned that the car is easier to drive this year. Comparing both cars (when asked about it in an interview no less) is very far from
.
And for all we know, the reason why Kimi wanted to be left alone last year was because he had a handfull with handling that car!
Candice
22nd February 2013, 9:48
nope, kimi mentioned the balance is good.
Its obvious Romain suffer more after they introduced the coanda than Kimi.
Kimi wanted to be left alone…thats something he been preferring at since sauber day. Mark Slade claim he knew kimi long enough to know that he hates people talking to him during the race. Nth to do with car being undrivable.
M Dickens (@sgt-pepper)
22nd February 2013, 1:28
(@jcost) It’d be great to see Grosjean win a few races this year, but I’m not sure if I see him challenging Raikkonen regularly. Either way, fingers crossed the Lotus is up there with the RB’s and Mclarens.
victor (@genevene)
22nd February 2013, 2:32
upset kimi?? i only remember he outpace kimi in canada when kimi had hydraulic failure and valencia where he received new upgrades first while kimi had to wait until hungary!!
The rest, he was blown away by Kimi ‘s pace alone.
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd February 2013, 8:19
Not in qualifying, he wasn’t. Nor on race pace as such. The big difference over the year was with Kimi knowing how to actually finish a race and be fast – getting it to score consistently and even win a race.
Grosjean was fast (initially faster than Kimi) but far too often threw that away in mid field crashes.
Candice
22nd February 2013, 9:52
I dont know what you have been watching. Kimi struggle a little bit in 1st half of the season when the team didnt get the pwoer steering to his liking, it doesnt stop kimi in trashing Romain on race pace. Much obvious example would be Bahrain (starting 12th) and Hungary (kers recharge issues).
Nothing suggest Romain has been faster, more on kimi wasnt 100% yet. In 2nd half, it was so obvious that neither on quali or race, Romain had upperhand on Kimi on races WHERE HE FINISHED THE RACE.
Candice
22nd February 2013, 7:29
I think we have saw that when he was trouble free last year, Kimi still owned him hard by pace alone!!
javlinsharp (@javlinsharp)
22nd February 2013, 15:24
Hell will freeze the day a sober Kimi Raikkonen is bested by his teammate.
RogGro, I like him, he is a sweet kid, but IMHO, he has shown nothing in F1 that would indicated him as a future WDC.
Francorchamps (@francorchamps17)
21st February 2013, 20:46
I’m sure Grosjean will win for the first time this year! Lotus has one of the best pairs of drivers and could be the 2nd or 3rd team this year.
andae23 (@andae23)
21st February 2013, 20:55
So far we’ve only heard positive comments from Lotus over the past two weeks – that’s fantastic! It would be great if Louts would mingle with the established three: Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st February 2013, 21:16
@andae23 last year was the same, wasn’t it? :/
andae23 (@andae23)
21st February 2013, 21:20
@fer-no65 Let’s just ignore that for now ;)
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st February 2013, 21:24
@andae23 heh, testing… it really is mindblowing, isn’t it :P?
andae23 (@andae23)
21st February 2013, 21:27
@fer-no65 :D
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd February 2013, 8:20
Personally I would take a Lotus as competitive as last years already @fer-no65, if its a tad better compared to the rest of the field that makes it great!
Paul A (@paul-a)
21st February 2013, 21:59
Snipping commentary: “It’s quite different from last year … and you have to change your driving style … it’s really a question of trying to keep the rubber on the tyre … to do that [is] just guessing … ”
Grosjean is a more than competent driver, so if he’s right about trying to change driving style to guess how to keep rubber on the tyres we’re in for a Pirelli season. I always thought the WDC was about intrinsic ability, not guesswork.
Am I alone in asking for a driver to drive to the Drivers‘ Championship?
Boomerang
21st February 2013, 22:18
No, you’re not! ;-)
I’m still wondering if Pirelli makes this on purpose or they’re not getting things right. Beats me!
Tyres are very complexed piece of engineering art. However, I cannot accept that so many good engineers don’t understand what they’re doing, complexity notwithstanding.
Regretably, if we ask drivers to drive for the Driver’s Championship they’re destined to fail. Consequently, I wonder: “What is the purpose of this sport?” Mere spectacle or true competition among people who push the cars to the limit.
Canary
21st February 2013, 23:38
@paul-a: Then it would be a spec series, no?
I mean, that’s really the only way to make it entirely about the drivers and not constructors…
@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd February 2013, 1:03
We now have( vitual) spec engines making them irrelevant, why not irrelevant spec tyres leaving it to the driver and his aerodynamicist.
@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd February 2013, 1:04
@paul-a, sigh, no you are not alone.
Mike (@mike)
22nd February 2013, 1:30
What’s the difference between this years tyre and any other years?
The drivers have to cope with the grip the tyre gives, no matter which year you look at. Given that tyres are so important to motor cars, isn’t it normal that they take up a large consideration?
Boomerang
22nd February 2013, 7:38
The difference is in technical aspect of the sport – tyres in this case – limiting driver’s skill to push it all the way.
Crackers (@crackers)
21st February 2013, 22:27
Surely a race simulation for Grosjean ends in the gravel at the first corner with bits of his car missing?
I’ll get my tongue out of my cheek now.
Mike (@mike)
22nd February 2013, 1:31
Apparently he’s making it to the 2nd corner now in the simulators…
Suvan Naidu (@serv)
22nd February 2013, 6:40
I don’t know how Grosjean manages his F1 lifestyle together with his Aussie rapping career :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syWsq30QadY
Lars Jarlvik (@lazze2k5)
22nd February 2013, 10:48
Haha, is that Grosjean’s FIA community service sentance for the crash in Belgium? They really look alike.
Jigar (@jpatzf1)
22nd February 2013, 7:04
I would love to Grosjean win a Grand Prix this year, and Kimi as well. yup.