Sunday: Räikkönen on the podium, Grosjean disappointed at Lotus
The Lotus F1 team managed to place a car on the podium in Valencia, that of Kimi Räikkönen. While this delights Eric Boullier, the team director, he is not entirely satisfied because Romain Grosjean had to retire due to an alternator problem while he was in a good position.
Kimi Räikkönen – 2nd:
The second place is a good result, but victory is what I really wished for. We didn’t have enough pace to achieve that today. I had a good start but got blocked by Pastor (Maldonado) at the first right-hander which cost me a few positions, dropping me down the order. We made a good recovery afterward, and I had some great battles with several people – overtaking and being overtaken. I couldn’t get the tires warm quickly enough behind the safety car, and I made a small mistake on the restart. I was able to fight again because we had, once again, a good pace. Today, it was close, but the victory was out of reach.
Romain Grosjean – Retirement
«The car lost power and shut down. I couldn’t even talk to my engineer on the radio because it was dead. The race was almost perfect until then: we had a good start, and we were on a good strategy. I don’t think we were that far from that first victory. The positive of this weekend is that we fought at the front and showed a good pace. Sebastian (Vettel) was very strong, and I don’t know if I could have caught up with him. When he had his problem, I was in second position behind Fernando (Alonso), and that’s when I thought I could fight for the lead because I knew our tire wear was less than his. Unfortunately, fate decided otherwise…»
