– Press Release
Sunday 9th June 2013 – Kimi Räikkönen equalled Michael Schumacher’s record of consecutive points finishes as he endured a difficult Canadian Grand Prix. Romain Grosjean fought through the field to temporarily occupy a points placing, before an unexpected second stop dropped him to 13th place from his back of the grid start in Montréal.
Kimi falls to third place in the Drivers’ Championship, with Fernando Alonso now in second, 12 points ahead of him. The team drops to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, with Mercedes 20 points ahead in third.
- Kimi started from P11 with a new set of supersoft tyres, changing to new mediums on lap 22.
- Romain started from P22 on a new set of medium tyres, switching to new supersofts on lap 42 and new mediums on lap 53.
- Today was Kimi’s 35th consecutive race finish – 27th consecutive with Lotus F1 Team – and 24th consecutive Grand Prix points finish; the latter statistic meaning he equals Michael Schumacher’s record.
Kimi Räikkönen, P9, E21-03
“It’s been a bad weekend, but at least we scored a few points”
“My race didn’t start very well and then my brakes were fading with the pedal going soft; similar to the problem we had on Friday. It wasn’t ideal but at least the brakes were good enough to slow me down for the corners. Unfortunately though it meant I lost a lot of time and wasn’t able to attack, plus we lost a few seconds in the pit stop which obviously didn’t help either. Most of my race was just following the cars in front and defending from those behind, so not the most enjoyable day nor the most enjoyable result. It’s been a bad weekend, but at least we scored a few points.”
Romain Grosjean, P13, E21-02
“It’s disappointing to miss out on the points”
“It was always going to be a tough race coming from the back, but it’s still disappointing to miss out on the points. Things were looking good until we switched to the option tyres, but they dropped off far quicker than we expected which forced us to stop again. Sadly that effectively put an end to our race as by that time there was no way back. After a promising start on Friday it’s not been the best weekend, but we had good pace last year at Silverstone so we’ll come back looking to put things right.”
Eric Boullier, Team Principal
“Today was certainly character building”
“Today was certainly character building. On the plus side, Romain drove a measured and mature race through the field and should have finished in the points had we not had to make a second stop, which wasn’t to our original plan. Kimi had a frustrating day, but still scored some points. We couldn’t show the pace we wanted this weekend and will be all the more focused when we get to Silverstone as we are obviously very keen to get our championship challenge back on track.”
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director
“We simply weren’t quick enough this weekend”
“We clearly haven’t been quick enough all weekend and we’ll go back to Enstone to analyse why. We’ll then react to those conclusions and hopefully get ourselves back up to where we want to be, which is fighting for podiums and wins. We have an aero test before Silverstone, a new bodywork package and other tweaks to come so there is plenty of potential to improve. We simply weren’t quick enough this weekend.”
Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team Support Leader
“That was a race to the finish, in many respects. Every lap we were changing settings to try to give an extra advantage over the competition, particularly from the starting positions we were in. The change in weather conditions changed fuel consumption so we had to play with that, plus we had to control the temperatures throughout the race as we were in traffic every lap. Getting P9 for Kimi keeps the points going, but we hope we can return to the front at the next race in Silverstone.”
Nice result!