This article is about the Formula One team that are competing as Lotus during the 2012 Formula One season. For the original 1954–1994 motorsport team, see Team Lotus. For the team that competed in 1995 as Pacific Team Lotus, see Pacific Racing. For the team that competed in 2010 as Lotus Racing and 2011 as Team Lotus, see Team Lotus (2010–11).
Lotus F1 Team is a British Formula One racing team. The team will compete under the Lotus name for the first time in the 2012 Formula One season, following the renaming of the former Renault team based at Enstone in Oxfordshire. Lotus F1 Team is owned by Luxembourg-based venture capital group Genii Capital[5] and named after its branding partner Group Lotus.
Kimi Raikkonen - 11th: "We had the speed today and we could easily have gone through to the final session with another run, but we thought it was worth taking the risk to only do one lap in Q2 and save fresh sets of tyres for the race. Managing the tyres will be a priority tomorrow, so while it was a gamble that didn't get us through to the final session it will hopefully be a strategy which pays off in the race.[/color]We knew it was going to be close and of course we always want to be as high up the grid as possible, but there were two options and we went for the one which we believe will deliver the best result on Sunday. There are no points given out on Saturday, so let's see what happens tomorrow."
Bahrain GP 2012: Gary Anderson on Kimi Raikkonen's display By Gary Anderson BBC F1 technical analyst [/color]
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They chose to have Kimi Raikkonen deliberately miss out on the top-10 qualifying shoot-out so he could have more fresh sets of tyres for the race. That worked well thanks to an aggressive first few laps from Raikkonen, in which he made up a lot of places. But their race strategy could probably have been a little more aggressive and responsive. I think they waited too long to call Raikkonen in for his final stop. I would have pitted him on lap 36, the first time he used his DRS to try to pass Vettel, using a surprise stop to sell Vettel a dummy and ensure Red Bull could not respond.
Raikkonen was two seconds a lap faster on fresh tyres and that would have been enough to "under-cut" Vettel. But Lotus waited until his tyres had gone away and ended up coming in on the same lap as Red Bull.
I suspect Lotus were very keen to make sure of second place and, after the problems they had in China when they pitted too early and Raikkonen ran out of tyres at the end of the race, they did not want to take any risks.
But as the guy behind Raikkonen was his team-mate Romain Grosjean, they would still have got second and third, as Webber was far enough behind not to cause too much of a problem.
Essi Kimi: Why do you always wear a cap and sunglasses, even when there is no sun?[/b]
KR: I like caps and I like sunglasses. I have very sensitive eyes so I have to protect them with the sunglasses.[/quote]
Noémi Kovács: Have you ever got something special from your fans? KR: I receive a lot of gifts from fans… they can be really inventive and it makes me smile. They remember my birthday, they send their congratulations and their supporting slogans in Finnish. That’s something special, isn’t it?[/color]
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Prakasita Nindyaswari: Why you don’t have a twitter account? KR: Well, I don’t really like twitter… or facebook. I prefer privacy.
Cindy Idier: What will be your revenge against Sebastian Vettel after what he did on the podium? Did you see the pictures? KR: Yeah I saw that, it was funny. The revenge will come soon enough, I hope! Getting on the first step of the podium would be a good start.
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Lisa Munro: Who’s better at badminton, you or Sebastian Vettel?
KR: I keep on winning! It’s something like 100 to 0 so far…
Steve Jones: What is your favourite activity outside of Formula 1? KR: I like a lot of things… all kinds of sports and games where there is an element of competition. Ice Hockey is my current favourite while it’s still time for winter sports.[/color]
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[b]Anastasia Kozlova: What would you choose: a guaranteed 2nd place (which definitely brings you a Constructor’s Title) or a risky strategy with a 10% chance for 1st place? (Let’s say the race is taking place at Spa) KR: I think it’s more exciting if you have to battle and take some risks to obtain the top spot. I’m here to win!
Oszter Tamás : What situation makes you nervous on the race track? KR: If somebody is doing something really stupid. But luckily right now the grid is very talented!
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Divine Y. Lopez: You’re always so calm and collected. How do you do manage that being involved in a sports that’s, to my mind, frequently tension-filled and highly stressful?
KR: I just focus on racing and don’t let other things bother me. I have been in racing for two thirds of my life now; you just get used to being in this environment.
Sarah Moreau: Can you explain why you always perform so well at Spa?
KR: I really like the track so I guess that helps. I’m looking forward to racing there again and hopefully come home with a good result for the team.
This post has been edited by Raikkonen: May 3 2012, 10:31 PM
Lap 5 : Moves past Paul Di Resta into P8 through T9 / T10
Lap 11/12 : Pits for soft tyres (Excellent pit crew)
Lap 13 : Jumping Mark Webber to clinch P11 after Lewis Hamilton is forced to pit. Takes Petrov for P10. *Some of us missed this part especially overtaking Petrov.
Lap 15 : Another position gained, past Nico Hulkenberg for P5
This post has been edited by Raikkonen: Jul 31 2012, 06:46 AM
Formula 1 now hurries off to the Suzuka circuit in Japan for the last of a trio of Asiatic races, following on from Singapore three weeks ago and Sepang last Sunday. The first Grands Prix held in the Land of the Rising Sun took place in 1976 and 1977 at the Fuji circuit, which made a brief two year return to the calendar in 2007 and 2008. All the others, since 1987, have been held at the Suzuka Circuit, originally built as a test track and equally famous for its amusement park. It is unique on the calendar in having a figure of eight layout. It boasts a variety of corner types, which makes it one of the most technical as well as being much loved by the drivers. As in Malaysia a few days ago, the Hard, Medium and Soft tyres will be used, although the weather forecast is for rain.
“I don’t know if it’s one of my favorite circuits, but it’s a good one” is Kimi Raikkonen’s view of the Japanese track. “It’s a challenging circuit where if your car is not handling as you want, it’s not a nice place where to be because it’s fast and very difficult to get everything running as you want. This is a nice circuit where to drive and where you can push because it’s fast. There are quite a few chances to overtake. It depends on how much fast you are, on what the guy in front of you does. But, there is always a chance. I like the food and have a lot of fans there and they are very passionate about F1. So, it’s an interesting place where to go.”
This post has been edited by Raikkonen: Oct 4 2016, 09:09 PM
Kimi Räikkönen switches the roaring engines of a Ferrari California T for the sirens of a fire truck! Watch this unique job swap between Kimi and a BOMBA veteran, Mohd Uzair Abdullah. Shell V-Power protects the heart of your machine for improved performance. www.shell.com.my/jobswap
He drives quick. No! He drives fast. He seems motivated. Very motivated indeed: to still avoid both- silly questions hurled at him and to regain the lost form at Ferrari in his second wing- where they’re saying he has found that lost mojo. The torrential despair of 2014 is well behind him. But 2014 being a year, where one often secretly muttered that Raikkonen was done and dusted, the eternal Kimi optimist, would have been content at suggesting that registering a solitary fastest lap at Monaco was a sign that he still had it in him.
That’s the kind of love the Finnish racing driver holds. And, truth be told, he does.
A banner and flags for Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari. 28.03.2014. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 2, Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang, Malaysia, Friday.
Even though he’s changed a bit in Formula One, both on tracks and off limits from the starry charade on the tarmac. The younger, agile but laidback Kimi who showed consistent pace and appeared on podium often during the Ron- Dennis powered McLaren years and the golden Ferrari run of 2007 has transformed into a peppy dad outside the track but a gutsy motor-head determined to end his finishing laps in the epitome of motor sport racing on a high note.
Cheers there, there’s 2017 to go.
Although a thing has remain unchanged. The visible loss of words, albeit, muttered in utterly staid undertone on losing a part of his SF 16-H, a site so often seen in 2016 at Monza, Hungaroring and his favorite, Spa. Gosh, Spa’s terrible finish would have hurt the ‘King of Spa’ like a blade , having to finish P9, when he qualified a ballsy P3. After all, he’s won 4 times at the pinnacle of European beauty amidst The Ardennes, twice in a row in 2004, 05.
Gearing back to form in 2016
Yeah, the race win still seems elusive at his second ‘home coming’ at Ferrari if you may call it that for Kimi, but, it will cheer you noting that the podiums haven’t been all that elusive. 7 since 2014’s dismal run up to the present day as we head toward Austin, clearly his lowest ebb in an otherwise intrepid and starry career.
In fact, to render you more positives, there have been 3 fastest lap additions to Kimi Raikkonen’s tally, taking the flying number of laps up to 43.
Yeah, well, he may be ‘old’ for the sport, but still knows a thing or two about shining like gold even in these days where Mercedes, standing on top are throwing the spills for the Scuderia and Red Bull. Fighting and making it through collisions, unprecedented incidents and racing errors
The collisions with good friend and teammate, Vettel and sights of being ‘Max’imated’ notwithstanding, there’s a vibe of settled air about Raikkonen in 2016 at Ferrari. It’s like he’s found himself a stable bed, which warrants him a cushy comfort as long as he can plug in blazing wheels in motion underneath and go flying on the circuit.
The reinvigorated Raikkonen, hungry to win, seems, in fact hungrier than what he appeared in more recent years, as an in-charge of the command at Ferrari’s scoring, with Vettel being somewhat of a disappointment. Even if 2016 hasn’t produced a win, barring an achingly close on at Bahrain right at the start where Hamilton was nearly passed with less than a second’s gap in the closing stages and other instances of Ferrari committing hara-kiri through appalling race strategies, picture the self-induced puncture to the podium hopes at Singapore, it’s looked solid. And compose. And Raikkonen style composed- firm, steady, staid and graceful.
An improvement at the back of a scrutiny?
But that said, the consistency of Raikkonen this year, evidenced by a string of P4s- Malaysia, Singapore, Italy and his impressive podium finishes- Bahrain, Russia, Spain and Austria, have come against a deterrence enforced by Maurizio Arrivabene who doesn’t want the sedately charming Finn to go easy on himself.
After all, a happier Kimi with a happier looking front-end, sans collisions early into turn 1 augurs well for Ferrari. What else could be worse that ramping up head-on’s with his own teammate, a sight that falteringly became real thanks to Seb’s inexplicable move at Sepang. The old Kimi is still alive in him, albeit evolved in a different flavor
He still keeps his head low. Low enough for it to evade all the circumspect media attention. It seems he doesn’t like that. No, he can’t stand it. Even as he couldn’t care less.
Don’t be deceived by that wry smile of his. Some will say why, it’s a smile, but wry it is. Nonetheless.
That’s the enigma of the Iceman Kimi Raikkonen. Here’s a man, who has been driving in 15 arduous, glorious but memorable Formula One seasons, where he’s grown in character, survived the odd lows, resigned his fate once, stepping back from the highs of F1’s pompous show and yet, came back again, spirited and supremely-self confident, albeit driving a Formula One car that was a minion in front of the powered Red Bulls and Ferraris and where he stood firm on P3 at 2012, stating ‘it felt normal’, at winning his first grand prix since the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix.
A thing was noted, even though not celebrated in media. The Kimi that bounced back on F1’s grand stage in 2012, revealed how the Abu Dhabi win mattered more to him for his team’s sake, with Raikkonen preferring to step back from the awe he inspired with his triumph. This was after all a really low-key unit which lacked resources to an extent that the Finn wasn’t paid a penny in 2013.
But then again, that’s Kimi.
He didn’t make much of a public show when he could have. He moved to where it seemed to him, he belonged, even if it meant being smacked by Fernando’s 161 points to his paltry collection of 55 in 2014 at Ferrari. The ‘Fire and Ice’ combination mocked and reduced to a rubble, Raikkonen declared, albeit in a Kimi Raikkonen composed streak that ‘Ferrari will bounce back in 2015’. For those wondering when that happened, flash back to Youtube’s interview with Tom Clarkson. 2015 saw Alonso move to Honda where he was miserable in a miserable car, something his former Ferrari partner experienced with a grain of salt earlier.
But Raikkonen welcomed Seb. Together they put Ferrari where their fans and quite frankly, F1 purists wanted them to be- among the top, finishing second on the Constructor’s standings In doing so, Raikkonen, showed signs of early progress, collecting 150. Still ‘average according to the Finn’, even though but 95 better than the lowest ebb of his career in 2014, Kimi promised more in 2016 where we stand today, looking at the end. Now, looming large on P4 with 4 races to go, he seems willing and positively assured of adding more to his tally of 160. Has the smile broadened? Nope. Has he started jumping around, securing consistent points, often scoring alone for Ferrari? Not at all.
But then, that is Kimi Matias Raikkonen for you. A sniper who guns down opponents without much ado, without any bickering. Like the unrelenting slab of ice, put to test amidst embers striking hot. Unwilling to melt. Happy to endure.
Kimi Raikkonen believes changes to the team of people he works closely with inside Ferrari this season have been key to turning his Formula 1 form around.
The Finn was comfortably outperformed by new F1 team-mate Sebastian Vettel last term, scoring just over half the number of three-time-winner Vettel's points and failing to win a single race.
It followed a disappointing season in 2014 when he finished 12th in the standings, managing just over a third of then team-mate Fernando Alonso's tally.
This year, Raikkonen has improved his pace, performance over weekends and consistency on Sundays, and sits just seven points behind Vettel with two grands prix remaining.
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said last month Raikkonen now feels he has the trust and commitment of his mechanics.
In Mexico, Raikkonen revealed he has been working with new personnel this year.
"There were some changes with the people that I work and they have been very good," he said.
"The guys are very good at what we do and we all work together very well, in a very good way.
"We understand each other well and we have the same idea how we want to do stuff."
Raikkonen says that resulting precision and sound decision-making process is paying dividends.
"With very small details, we are making sure they are correct and that they are not almost there or roughly there, but they are exactly like they should be.
"When you have that mentality, it pays off.
"Because you have a lot of the small things, if they are correct it's going to make a big impact in the lap time.
"If they are not, you are adding two or three things and suddenly it's going to have a lot of lap-time effect.
"The car has been good in the way I can drive it, that helps."
Despite his personal progress, Raikkonen admits Ferrari still has a lot of work to do, especially as it is currently behind Mercedes and Red Bull in the constructors' championship.
"It hasn't been such a good season," he said. "We want to be in the front and fighting for wins.
"When you don't achieve that, you can't say it's a good season.
Apr 27 2012, 10:54 AM, updated 10y ago
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