Valsecchi replaces Raikkonen for penultimate test day

2013 F1 season

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Lotus’s third driver Davide Valsecchi will drive for the team in today’s test at the Circuit de Catalunya, the team has confirmed.

Kimi Raikkonen was scheduled to drive the car today. Up until yesterday evening Raikkonen was expected to be driving the car but the team have indicated this morning he is unwell.

Valsecchi drove for the team in the Young Drivers’ Test at Abu Dhabi last year and joined them as a test driver this year.

Romain Grosjean, who drove the car on Thursday and Friday, said he yesterday he would not be at the track on Saturday and Sunday.

“For sure I would have preferred to have one day with sun and more higher temperatures,” he said.

This article will be updated.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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32 comments on “Valsecchi replaces Raikkonen for penultimate test day”

  1. Ice cream break? Or toilet(****) break???

    1. Getting very old this, ho ho ho.

    2. firstLapNutcaseGrosjean (@)
      2nd March 2013, 13:08

      And I said to him last night, not to drink too much…

  2. It would have made a lot more sense if grosjean was given driving duties instead of valsecchi. Or has he already left barcelona?

    1. Murali Dharan
      2nd March 2013, 16:17

      left

  3. *Valsecchi

  4. There’s a mean cold going over Europe: in germany they couldn’t keep the roads free from snow in one town, because everybody was ill.
    And I and my family are ill for more than a week now.
    If he’s got the same, I wish him the best. Well not only if it’s the same but I just can relate to that.

    1. Suspected food poisoning, apparently!

  5. Here’s hoping he recovers quickly and gets some mileage tomorrow.

  6. Autosport is also reporting that Grosjean has been asked to turn around and head back to the track, with Lotus hoping that he’ll make it back for the afternoon’s testing.

    1. Hope he makes the U-turn safely…

      Has Valsecchi been hanging around all week, in case something like this happens? Are any other off-duty drivers about? Any sign of Button today – I thought there was a JB quote yesterday that he’d stick around and see how Perez got on.

  7. ridiculous…….he had every possible issues on his testing slot so far…

    god bless him on Melbourne after setting the least mileage among other drivers on the grid so far.

    1. Still not as bad as last year!

      1. not as bad?? he only did 200++ laps so far, with 1 day remaining in doubt on Sunday running.

        how is that not as bad as last year??

        1. Last year the team lost an entire week of running! Raikkonen might have done few laps, but things aren’t looking too bad for Lotus at the moment.

    2. More mileage than Jules Bianchi…

  8. Hungover? haha just kidding.

  9. dodgy pint.

  10. Valssechi or Valsecchi?

    1. It’s a shame he’s not called Valtteri Valsecchi.

  11. I guess Raikkonen’s sponsors didn’t pay the team as agreed …

    1. Ba…dmm….tsh!!!

    2. firstLapNutcaseGrosjean (@)
      2nd March 2013, 13:11

      I guess testing is boring…

  12. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
    2nd March 2013, 13:06

    Bloody good news. It’s nice to hear that the reserve role is not merely ceremonial. And Valsecchi deserves it. I was convinced that after an excellent championship winning GP2 season, a very strong test in Abu Dhabi, he’d land a seat, possibly at Caterham next to Kovalainen. The nieve F1 fan in me saw the recapture of the 10th place as further evidence, because surely Caterham wouldn’t have so cash-strapped and could have afforded two non-paying drivers. How wrong was I. Real shame, because Valsecchi’s intelligence behind the wheel would have really suited the “Pirelli-era”. In GP2 he was excellent at looking after his tyres, was very consistent and also had a sharp turn of speed. Let’s hope that Romain has a few more crashes this year and we get a safer, more evaluative driver on the 2014 grid. It takes more than speed Romain…

  13. Nice use of ‘for sure’ so early in the season (Grosjean); and at the front of the only sentence in the quote, so that’s like pole position. Not as many points as a sentence consisting entirely of ‘for sure’, though. Keith, can we keep a ‘for sure’ count, or does the technology simply not exist for such a thing?

    1. Michael Brown (@)
      2nd March 2013, 15:10

      I’m taking a data course, so I could determine how many For Sures were said, the percentage of For Sures, and the probability of him saying For Sure in the future.

      It will be tedious, but worth the laugh.

    2. It would be fitting if Sure (Lotus’s fragrant sponsor) could support Felipe Massa as well. Then they could put their logo under the number 4 on his car…

  14. Mike the bike Schumacher (@mike-the-bike-schumacher)
    2nd March 2013, 17:00

    Somebody had a few too many vodkas last night………

    1. firstLapNutcaseGrosjean (@)
      2nd March 2013, 17:58

      vodka + icecream = next day off testing

  15. So in the end Grosjean made it back for the afternoon. And I guess we saw what a reserve driver can be good for to have around. Good job Valsecchi to be there and get his first milage in the Lotus too.

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