Saturday: Räikkönen and Grosjean aim for big points for Lotus
Kimi Räikkönen managed to qualify in 5th position today in Abu Dhabi, just a few hundredths of a second off 3rd place. The Finn hopes to beat the Mercedes tomorrow in the race to reach the podium or even more. Romain Grosjean, on the other hand, wasn't comfortable in qualifying. Nevertheless, he recorded the 7th fastest time and also aims for the podium. The Lotus cars seem to perform better on longer stints than the Mercedes. Therefore, there will be a duel between the E21 and the W04 during the Grand Prix.
Kimi Räikkönen – 9th and 5th [22nd on the grid after disqualification]:
« This day didn’t go too badly, actually. At the beginning of the day, yesterday and today, I had a bit of trouble getting the car to work as I wanted, but in the evening, when the temperatures were cooler, I was more at ease. That’s rather good because the race will take place in the early evening when the temperatures are cooler. The short-wheelbase chassis seems to suit my driving style better too, so let’s hope we can continue in this direction tomorrow. Of course, you always want to be as high as possible on the starting grid, but we were clearly not the fastest today, but you never know what will happen on Sunday, so we’ll see what we do. »
Romain Grosjean – 5th and 7th [6th on the grid]:
« It’s one of the toughest qualifying sessions we’ve had recently, and 7th on the grid is not the result we wanted after the good pace we showed at the start of the weekend. The car seemed a bit different this evening, especially in terms of the front wing, so we need to analyze what didn’t work. It’s a long race we’ll have tomorrow, in difficult conditions, and everyone around us will start the Grand Prix with the same types of tires, so we need to find performance overnight if we want to be on the podium tomorrow. »
