2013 Korean GP : Team Preview – Lotus

The Korean International Circuit remains a fairly unexplored territory for Lotus and their drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean.

Both the drivers have been out in Yeongam just once last year as Raikonnen missed the inaugural event due to his sabbatical and Grosjean getting his chance to drive only in 2012.

The track remains a technical challenge for the engineers as they work on different configurations as the weekend moves on.

Lotus would be hoping to get a good all-round package which requires strong straight line speed and stability, relatively decent traction and at the same a tyre management strategy (depending on track conditions) that would help them catch the Red-Bull’s.

Lotus has had a mixed bag of performances in the season

With Kimi having lost out in the race for the Driver’s Championship and Mercedes having a healthy lead of 61 points(which will be hard to catch up) in the Constructor’s table, Lotus’s only hope lies in helping Raikonnen move ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes.

If Kimi or Grosjean can bring home a win from the final six races, it will definitely be a bonus and a much needed boost for next season.

Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen is ready to fight it out at the Korean GP despite his back problems

The Iceman finished third in Singapore despite starting thirteenth and a long standing back problem that had almost kept him out of the race. He would be eyeing a podium and break the stronghold of Ferrari, Mclaren and Red-Bull who have shared the podium among them in the last three editions.

Since his win in Australia at the start of the season, it’s been a mixed bag for the Finnish driver. While he has lacked qualifying pace evident from in the last couple of races, he has managed to make up lost ground during the race.

Kimi is currently fourth in the driver’s tally, just 2 points behind Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes and would want to move ahead of him with just a handful of races left in the season. He had qualified fifth last year in Yeongam and ended the race in the same place.

He had his scary moment in the first free practice at the KIC when he crashed out, but thankfully he didn’t do much damage to himself. The team managed to get him back in time for FP2. Having disappointing (due to a mistake on his hot lap in Q3) as he qualified tenth, but would start in ninth place on the grid due to ten-place penalty for Mark Webber.

Romain Grosjean

Romain Gorsjean would be hoping to get some luck going for him in the race at Yeongam

The Frenchman has managed to outpace his teammate in the recent qualifying sessions but unfortunately for him, hasn’t been able to do much during the race.

He started off third on the grid in Singapore and was in a good position in the race before his Lotus had problems with an air leak in the engine. It’s been a disappointing season for Grosjean the exceptions being Bahrain and Germany where he managed to finish on the podium.

But once again he managed to beat his teammate in qualifying as a motivated performance sees him on the second row at Yeongam. He would be hoping to get some luck during the race.

Lotus Performance Analysis at Korean GP

	Kimi Raikkonen	Romain Grosjean
Wins	Nil	Nil
Pole Positions	Nil	Nil
Podiums	Nil	Nil
Best Finish	5th	7th