Kimi Raikkonen says he expects Lotus will be closer to Red Bull in qualifying this weekend.
The RB9s locked out the front row of the grid in Melbourne while Raikkonen shared row four with team mate Romain Grosjean.
During the press conference for the Malaysian Grand Prix Raikkonen said the unusual circumstances of last week’s qualifying exaggerated the difference between Lotus and Red Bull.
“I wouldn’t say that the qualifying was very normal situation with all the weather and it got delayed and all that stuff,” he said.
“With normal dry conditions I’m pretty sure we are more close, I hope at least. We’ll wait and see once we get the normal qualifying done, I am sure we are not a second behind or whatever it was, 1.4 seconds behind.”
Raikkonen added he hopes his car will show the same strong performance in the hot conditions seen in Malaysia as it did last year: “Last year we were pretty good when it was hot, and then actually it was better for us.
“But obviously we haven’t run in this king of condition and the winter was very cold so I have no idea. But if it’s anything what it was last year it should be OK but we have to wait and see how it goes.”
2013 Malaysian Grand Prix
- Horner: Vettel and Webber have a “healthy rivalry”
- Webber wins Malaysian GP Driver of the Weekend
- Red Bull gives up on team orders as Vettel admits he would defy them again
- Malaysia retirement no concern for Alonso
- Massa: Red Bull’s team orders not “intelligent”
Image © Lotus/LAT
timi (@timi)
21st March 2013, 9:17
The Lotus may well be able to qualify with a lessened gulf between themselves and the Red Bulls, however if they need a dry weekend for that to happen, there’s no way it’s happening this weekend.
It’s predicted to be rain all three days, with thundery showers during qualifying, and also the race.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
21st March 2013, 12:52
@timi Yeah, but what time? It might miss the quali time(not so sure about the race) altogether.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
22nd March 2013, 0:43
@timi Funny situation, someone in the paddock was gearing up for Malaysia with the hope of getting “meaningful running”…. No way with the usual weather.
Ben Cochrane (@benc)
21st March 2013, 9:17
Hoping for a dry, constant weather session to see where everyone lands. Melbourne was frustrating in qualifying because it was more about the conditions, which were always changing.
Red Bull look quick on one lap but have tire wear issues in race. Mercedes same issue but maybe not as quick. Keen to see how the Lotus performes over a quick lap because we know its kind to its tires in the race.
Candice
21st March 2013, 9:23
no way in hell it will be a dry quali or race.
I live here, been shower alot in the evening.
Ben Cochrane (@benc)
21st March 2013, 9:26
It shakes things up a bit for spectators but it must be a nightmare for the teams to get true data for car development going into the Euro season.
Aish Heydrich (@aish)
21st March 2013, 12:42
@candice: you’re going for the GP?
Candice
21st March 2013, 13:50
nope. more enjoyable watching it on tv .
Sounak Chakrabarty (@sonkky)
21st March 2013, 9:25
It rained today starting @13.30 Local Time, an hour before the Start of the Race
Candice
21st March 2013, 9:21
Keep the faith…LOL
Force Maikel (@force-maikel)
21st March 2013, 9:27
Malaysia; the race were running out of wet weather tyres is an actual concern.
mildertduck (@mildertduck)
21st March 2013, 10:05
I thought the wet tire compound was designed to be so durable that you *could* do a whole race on them if needed…
Force Maikel (@force-maikel)
21st March 2013, 10:52
Yes but they only have 3 sets per type and *if* they have to use them in practice and qualifying that window just got a whole lot smaller :-)
gdewilde (@gdewilde)
21st March 2013, 10:06
It don’t see the point in wishing for a dry race, as I read in a lot of comments concerning the Malaysian GP. Maybe the teams will be annoyed because they won’t be able to gather valuable data, but as a fan of unpredictable races I look forward to a bit of rain to shake things up! The longer the teams struggle to get there car optimised, the longer we will be able to enjoy unpredictable racing! And I just love me some good old fashioned unpredictability!
Red Andy (@red-andy)
21st March 2013, 10:59
I also love the unpredictability of wet races, but Charlie Whiting doesn’t allow them anymore.
As the farcical qualifying session in Melbourne showed, anything more than a few drops of rain on the circuit and the red flags will come out. As Sepang is a permanent circuit with better drainage, the tolerance should be slightly higher, but expect many delays if it rains (as well as the now apparently mandatory safety car start). The days of uninterrupted wet races, even those as recent as Silverstone 2008, are sadly behind us.
Tyler (@tdog)
21st March 2013, 11:13
I was sitting in the rain on Saturday afternoon when Q1 was run. I can assure you it was more than “a few drops”.
Jon Sandor (@jonsan)
21st March 2013, 19:10
They could just hose down the track on days it isn’t raining.
If you like unpredictability you should try the lotto, All sports are inherently predictable.
beneboy (@beneboy)
21st March 2013, 20:36
I work for a bookmakers and if that were true we’d go out of business very quickly, there is always form in any sport and certain things can be predicted with varying levels of accuracy but sports are inherently unpredictable due to the number of variables involved.
accidental mick (@accidental-mick)
21st March 2013, 12:06
Has anyone else noticed that Kimi seems more relaxed and talkative (for him) these days. He has stopped giving one word answers ecept for truly stupid questions and I don’t bame him for that.
ak
21st March 2013, 12:19
“But obviously we haven’t run in this king of condition ”
surely that’s ” kind ” of condition above . You can remove this comment after you change it if you like …
Aish Heydrich (@aish)
21st March 2013, 12:43
It’ll be an awesome race, due to weather.