Lotus ran the short wheelbase chassis which they started the season with for Kimi Raikkonen in today’s practice sessions at his request.
The long wheelbase version of the car was first tested at the Italian Grand Prix and used in subsequent races. However Raikkonen asked to try the shorter version of the car in practice at Yas Marin.a
“He wanted to try the short wheelbase car again as he felt its characteristics would suit this circuit,” said trackside operations director Alan Permane.
“So far it all looks good and this configuration will be kept on his car for the remainder of the weekend. His long-run pace looks very encouraging on both tyres.”
Raikkonen said: “The shorter chassis feels okay here, but I didn?óÔé¼Ôäót drive it back to back with the longer one so it?óÔé¼Ôäós difficult to say which is better.”
“We?óÔé¼Ôäóre still trying to get rid of some understeer, but on this circuit it feels better so far.”
Raikkonen has been out-qualified by team mate Romain Grosjean in four of the last six races. The balance of power between the two drivers shifted around the time the revised tyres were introduced in the middle of the season.
Ahead of this weekend team principal Eric Boullier said the long wheelbase car had been “working well” for the team.
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Image ?é?® Lotus/LAT
toiago (@toiago)
1st November 2013, 16:53
Plan B to try and beat Grosjean?
Vergil
1st November 2013, 17:09
You do know Grosjeans recent form had nothing to do with him improving, he did not suddenly change his driving style from what I can see, Its more like Kimis underperforming in the couple of races due to him not liking the balance of the car
HardHitter
1st November 2013, 17:10
Kimi ain’t racing proper until he’s paid. So Lotus can get the ***** out of the way. May start begging for that 20mill
scuderia_fan85 (@scuderia_fan85)
1st November 2013, 17:17
I think Kimi is more interested in beating Fernando for runner-up spot along with helping Lotus overtake Merc and Ferrari for the 2nd place.
Merv (@)
1st November 2013, 17:18
I doubt Kimi is overly bothered about helping Lotus at this stage.
Strontium (@strontium)
1st November 2013, 17:55
Yes. If anything I think he’d be more interested in stopping them.
SatchelCharge (@satchelcharge)
1st November 2013, 18:12
I completely disagree. The higher Lotus finish in the WCC, they will cut Kimi’s check that much faster.
greg-c
1st November 2013, 21:20
Isnt Kimi 80 points ahead of the Giraffe?
MarkM (@mpmark)
1st November 2013, 17:22
good on them, go back to what works! not like mclaren, they should have switched to the mp4-27 after Malaysia, but no sense in bringing that up anymore… lol
Patrick (@paeschli)
1st November 2013, 17:56
The long wheelbase version works pretty well: Grosjean finished on the podium on the last 3 races ;)
Droid Damudi (@droiddamudi)
1st November 2013, 18:13
So? Kimi finish 2nd too.
Kimi prefer SWB car, the LWB car had understeer issue which team and driver couldn’t fix with the setup and current tire compound.
Its like dejavu, back in 2008, Ferrari change suspension and then Kimi started struggling with qualifiying. Kimi ask for older spec car/suspension but team didn’t change untill late in season.
What i’m trying to say is certain driver like particular balance from car. LWB car may be quicker for race distance but for kimi its not good for qualifying.
@HoHum (@hohum)
1st November 2013, 21:44
Kimi “knows what he is doing”!
Patrick (@paeschli)
1st November 2013, 18:08
So they have used the short wheelbase version until the Italian GP, tested it at FP1 at the Italian GP and they used the long wheelbase version on every race since then until now?
Tomsk (@tomsk)
1st November 2013, 18:17
Grosjean needs the extra space for his wallet.
Joe Papp (@joepa)
2nd November 2013, 21:53
Really? Based on what evidence?