Raikkonen switches back to short wheelbase car

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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Lotus ran the short wheelbase chassis which they started the season with for Kimi Raikkonen in today’s practice sessions at his request.

The long wheelbase version of the car was first tested at the Italian Grand Prix and used in subsequent races. However Raikkonen asked to try the shorter version of the car in practice at Yas Marin.a

“He wanted to try the short wheelbase car again as he felt its characteristics would suit this circuit,” said trackside operations director Alan Permane.

“So far it all looks good and this configuration will be kept on his car for the remainder of the weekend. His long-run pace looks very encouraging on both tyres.”

Raikkonen said: “The shorter chassis feels okay here, but I didn’t drive it back to back with the longer one so it’s difficult to say which is better.”

“We’re still trying to get rid of some understeer, but on this circuit it feels better so far.”

Raikkonen has been out-qualified by team mate Romain Grosjean in four of the last six races. The balance of power between the two drivers shifted around the time the revised tyres were introduced in the middle of the season.

Ahead of this weekend team principal Eric Boullier said the long wheelbase car had been “working well” for the team.

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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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15 comments on “Raikkonen switches back to short wheelbase car”

  1. Plan B to try and beat Grosjean?

    1. You do know Grosjeans recent form had nothing to do with him improving, he did not suddenly change his driving style from what I can see, Its more like Kimis underperforming in the couple of races due to him not liking the balance of the car

    2. Kimi ain’t racing proper until he’s paid. So Lotus can get the ***** out of the way. May start begging for that 20mill

    3. I think Kimi is more interested in beating Fernando for runner-up spot along with helping Lotus overtake Merc and Ferrari for the 2nd place.

      1. I doubt Kimi is overly bothered about helping Lotus at this stage.

        1. Yes. If anything I think he’d be more interested in stopping them.

          1. I completely disagree. The higher Lotus finish in the WCC, they will cut Kimi’s check that much faster.

    4. Isnt Kimi 80 points ahead of the Giraffe?

  2. good on them, go back to what works! not like mclaren, they should have switched to the mp4-27 after Malaysia, but no sense in bringing that up anymore… lol

    1. The long wheelbase version works pretty well: Grosjean finished on the podium on the last 3 races ;)

      1. So? Kimi finish 2nd too.

        Kimi prefer SWB car, the LWB car had understeer issue which team and driver couldn’t fix with the setup and current tire compound.

        Its like dejavu, back in 2008, Ferrari change suspension and then Kimi started struggling with qualifiying. Kimi ask for older spec car/suspension but team didn’t change untill late in season.

        What i’m trying to say is certain driver like particular balance from car. LWB car may be quicker for race distance but for kimi its not good for qualifying.

        1. Kimi “knows what he is doing”!

  3. So they have used the short wheelbase version until the Italian GP, tested it at FP1 at the Italian GP and they used the long wheelbase version on every race since then until now?

  4. Grosjean needs the extra space for his wallet.

  5. The balance of power between the two drivers shifted around the time the revised tyres were introduced in the middle of the season.

    Really? Based on what evidence?

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