United States GP: Race notes - Lotus

18/11/2012

Lotus F1 Team took a formation finish with Kimi Raikkonen in sixth and Romain Grosjean seventh in the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas this afternoon.

Kimi maintains third position in the Drivers' Championship on 206 points; 16 ahead of Lewis Hamilton in fourth. The team remains fourth in the Constructors' Championship on 302 points; an increased 166 in front of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 in fifth.

Kimi and Romain both started on used medium compound tyres. Romain pitted for new hard tyres on lap 9, Kimi on lap 24.

Kimi Raikkonen: "It was an okay day, but not a very easy one for us. I got a bad start and then I touched with a Force India at the second corner so I lost a few more places. After that the car was okay and I could get past some of the others. Unfortunately, when it got cloudy it got too cold so the tyres stopped working and that's where we saw Jenson [Button] get past. Basically, it was a race where we were just depending on the tyres to be in their window. I'm still 3rd in the championship and we'll do everything we can to maintain this position until the end."

Romain Grosjean: "Not a bad race but the spin on lap seven was frustrating. The start was good, the first lap was good and the pace was definitely there. I recovered pretty well from where I was to finish P7 and was fighting Kimi at the end which is a positive sign. I pushed as hard as I could, so I was happy to bring home some more points for the team."

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: "Today wasn't as good as Abu Dhabi obviously, but with both cars in the points we're quite satisfied. The first part of the race created some expectations that we could have been in a position to fight for a better result, however the race didn't play out that way. We had a small problem in Kimi's pit stop and lost time there. Romain made a mistake behind Nico Hulkenberg and lost the opportunity to do a better job, but he had a very strong race from there and came back well. In the end, Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari were faster and there wasn't anything we could do. It's good to gain some points, plus we know we have better performance still to come from the car and the ability to achieve better results, so we're looking forward to Brazil."

James Allison, Technical Director: "Although there were elements of today's race that were quite positive, overall I have to admit it was a pretty joyless experience. Romain's off-track excursion during the early stages put a sizeable flat spot on his tyres which proved to be too much to live with past a few extra laps. This was a real shame as he clearly had good pace and put in a very spirited drive to recover from there. After a tricky start from the dirty side of the track, Kimi did a good job of clawing his way forwards and was on course to jump Fernando [Alonso] in the pit stop battle, but unfortunately we had a bit of a drama with our tyre change which put paid to that. On a more positive note, our qualifying pace has certainly improved so with a trouble free race in Brazil we can hopefully wrap up the season with another podium."

Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team Support Leader: "Coming to a new circuit is never straightforward as we are constantly learning about the track and optimising engine maps, fuel consumption and grip levels. We've had a strong weekend overall and sixth and seventh is a solid result, although perhaps we would have expected more after qualifying yesterday. The next race is only a week away and has its own set of challenges so we'll take that result and look forward now."

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