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Formula 1
F1: Raikkonen Builds Momentum With Fifth Podium
Lotus driver gains on Mark Webber...
Kimi Raikkonen of Finland and Lotus receives his trophy for finishing second during the Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix at the Hungaroring on July 29, 2012 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo: Getty Images)
A first comeback win still eludes him, but Kimi Raikkonen put in his best drive of the season on his way to a superb second place in Hungary.
His fifth podium of the season has moved him into serious title contention, and he is now only eight points behind Mark Webber, who is second.
A KERS problem meant Kimi lost a place to Fernando Alonso off the line, but he got back in front at the first stops and gained three more places after a superb middle stint.
“I had an OK start but then we had an issue with the KERS,” said Raikkonen. “And I only could use 50 per cent and I lost one position to Fernando, so the first few laps were not really good because we were trying to get the KERS working.
“After that it was OK but the same situation with Alonso, I was stuck behind him and just tried to save my tires and push once we got the clear circuit. It seemed to work both times and we gained a lot of time on those few laps.”
While he got close to leader Lewis Hamilton, he could not find a way past the McLaren.
“It was not so bad to follow through the last corner. But you’re one second later on the power every time, so they just pull too far away, and the straight is not long enough and the others are too fast. So it didn’t really give you any chance. My only chance was that they would run out of the tires and then you will have a chance – but that never happened, so we probably should have had 20 more laps – and then it would have happened.”
Kimi gained second place by coming out just in front of team mate Romain Grosjean, in what was a spectacular move.
“The team told me it’s going to be very close and I made a mistake with the pit lane speed limiter so it meant maybe five meters after the line I was still on it, so I thought that I really didn’t do a very good job out of there – but luckily it was enough gap and we were side-by-side in the first corner, but I could keep my position quite easily at that point. But it was one of those things: we had a lot of speed but just couldn’t use it in all the race.”
Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
His fifth podium of the season has moved him into serious title contention, and he is now only eight points behind Mark Webber, who is second.
A KERS problem meant Kimi lost a place to Fernando Alonso off the line, but he got back in front at the first stops and gained three more places after a superb middle stint.
“I had an OK start but then we had an issue with the KERS,” said Raikkonen. “And I only could use 50 per cent and I lost one position to Fernando, so the first few laps were not really good because we were trying to get the KERS working.
“After that it was OK but the same situation with Alonso, I was stuck behind him and just tried to save my tires and push once we got the clear circuit. It seemed to work both times and we gained a lot of time on those few laps.”
While he got close to leader Lewis Hamilton, he could not find a way past the McLaren.
“It was not so bad to follow through the last corner. But you’re one second later on the power every time, so they just pull too far away, and the straight is not long enough and the others are too fast. So it didn’t really give you any chance. My only chance was that they would run out of the tires and then you will have a chance – but that never happened, so we probably should have had 20 more laps – and then it would have happened.”
Kimi gained second place by coming out just in front of team mate Romain Grosjean, in what was a spectacular move.
“The team told me it’s going to be very close and I made a mistake with the pit lane speed limiter so it meant maybe five meters after the line I was still on it, so I thought that I really didn’t do a very good job out of there – but luckily it was enough gap and we were side-by-side in the first corner, but I could keep my position quite easily at that point. But it was one of those things: we had a lot of speed but just couldn’t use it in all the race.”
Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
Grand Prix of Bahrain
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