Lotus: Right to call Raikkonen in for third pit-stop in German GP

Lotus have insisted that they were right to call Kimi Raikkonen in for a third and final pit-stop at the end of the German Grand Prix.

Raikkonen finished the race just behind Sebastian Vettel and the decision to stop the Finn with ten laps remaining led to plenty of investigation.

However, Lotus have revealed that after the analysis of the tyre degradation experienced on Raikkonen’s E21 it was learned, they had no choice but to do so.

“There has been a lot of debate over whether we should have left Kimi out in his final stint, but it’s very clear from our simulations that – had his tyre degradation level continued at a steady rate – Seb would have quite easily been able to reel him in,” revealed Alan Permane, Lotus’ trackside Operations Director.

“While we are in no doubt about that, what is questionable is what would have happened if the degradation level had increased towards the end of the race. This was certainly the case for a number of other drivers who opted for that strategy, who we then saw being passed quite easily in the latter stages; something that would likely have happened to Kimi and subsequently dropped him back to fourth behind Fernando [Alonso] rather than a comfortable second with a fighting chance of victory.

“Taking all that into account, we’re very comfortable that the decision taken was the correct one.”

Source: Sky Sports