Kimi Raikkonen has got into the very useful habit of consistently finishing on the podium.
It doesn’t seem to matter if the Finn’s Lotus shows good pace throughout the weekend or not, or whether Kimi is actually in contention for a race win, the 2007 Formula One World Champion just appears to regularly clock up podium finishes. This being his third in this seasons opening four races.
In Bahrain, the Lotus team never really looked like they would be in contention at the front end of the race, they set the fastest time in FP2 but their race pace and tyre management was what handed them a second and third place finish.
Especially after the team didn’t exactly impress during qualifying.
Just like his team-mate Romain Grosjean, the Lotus seemed to lack that one lap pace and although he did make it through to Q3 he was forced to settle for 9th on the grid.
?It wasn?t the easiest qualifying session after a weekend which hasn?t been the easiest so far either. Yesterday it was difficult at times to find the balance with the car and I found that again today. This morning it felt good and we didn?t do too bad in free practice, but we didn?t quite get it right this afternoon. My lap wasn?t great, but it?s a long race so we?ll just have to see what we can do tomorrow.? Kimi said to formula1.com on Saturday evening.
It would be a race of tyre strategy for Kimi Raikkonen with the Lotus taking the lead as the others pitted for their first round of pit-stops.
With the likes of Vettel and Red Bull going for three stops, Lotus would be aiming for two stops, but the lead was short lived as Vettel re-took the lead on lap 15.
On lap 34, Kimi took second place from the well performing Force India of Paul Di Resta and from this point onwards it looked like Raikkonen would be fighting for second as the tyre strategies played themselves out.
?You?re never really happy if you don?t win, but I suppose second place is as close as you can get. I drove to the maximum and the car had the pace that we missed in qualifying yesterday so it was a pretty good result. We didn?t have the speed to challenge Sebastian [Vettel] today but we did have the pace to get both cars on the podium so I?m happy for the team.?
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Lotus are I pressing and as you say, he’s got a pretty good knack of being in the mix. Strange little fella!!