Räikkönen: “It’s better that it happens during testing”
Kimi Räikkönen was not very busy yesterday, unlike the Lotus mechanics who had to repair the E21's gearbox. At the end of the day, the Finn saw things from the positive side.
After Mercedes on Tuesday, it was Lotus team’s turn to encounter problems with its gearbox yesterday morning. A mechanical failure forced Kimi Räikkönen to stay in his garage for a good part of the day.
« We had a problem with the gearbox and it took time to repair. That’s all, » reported the Finn, laconically at the press conference.
Having had barely two hours of testing, Iceman still believes that his day was not completely useless: « We were able to drive in the afternoon, so the day wasn’t totally wasted. You always learn something when you drive. It’s testing, it’s better that it happens now than during a race weekend. But if you could choose, you’d prefer not to have any problems. »
And then two hours is better than nothing: « It’s not worse than last year [Lotus had to give up the second week of testing due to problems with the front suspension]. It’s another year, another story. Even if you don’t do tests, you have to race and be fast. It doesn’t matter how many laps you do. We are trying to do our best. If we could choose, we would do more laps than we did today, » explains the Finnish driver.
Kimi Räikkönen will be back on track during the last week of testing that will take place in Barcelona from February 28 to March 3. In the meantime, it is Romain Grosjean who will take the wheel of the Lotus E21 today and tomorrow.
From our special correspondent in Barcelona
