Lotus F1 Team: Friday free practice – more work needed

Lotus F1 Team: Friday free practice – more work needed

The weather at the Sepang International Circuit was not as hot as I expected it to be today. In spite of the sun beating down and the humidity rising with every passing hour, the conditions were surprisingly bearable. That said, there were dark clouds on the horizon.

I spent the free practice day with the Lotus F1 Team, my hosts for the weekend. As it turned out, the day didn’t turn out as promising as anticipated for them.

Lotus F1 Team: Friday free practice – more work needed

The first session showed much promise, with both drivers finishing in the top 10. Kimi Raikkonen concluded the session in 7th place. He completed 22 laps, and managed a best lap of 1:39.128, with his average speed being 201.303 km/h.

Meanwhile, Romain Grosjean did better, getting into 5th spot with a best lap of 1:38.919 and an average speed of 201.728 km/h, covering 17 laps in the process.

Lotus F1 Team: Friday free practice – more work needed

By the second free practice, however, things weren’t going as rightly, and both drivers dropped places. Grosjean slipped to 9th with a best time of 1:39.311. Luck wasn’t on his side, as one of his tyres picked up a cut, which means losing a set for the weekend.

Raikkonen ended the day in 15th, clocking in a best lap of 1:39.696. An issue with the KERS meant that the time he managed didn’t show the car’s true pace. Reports have since filtered in that the team has discovered a problem with the gearbox and have decided to change it.

Lotus F1 Team: Friday free practice – more work needed

With the rules stating that every unscheduled gearbox change will require the driver to drop five places on the grid at that meeting, it looks like Raikonnen might have to repeat his performance in Melbourne, storming from the back of the grid to finish in a point-scoring position.

As for Grosjean, he’ll be hoping that Melbourne will not repeat in Sepang. The again, this is only free practice. For the actual starting grid, well, we’ll just have to wait for tomorrow.

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Chris Ng

Chris Ng believes that all cars are made equal, and each one has its own unique story to tell. As such, the ex-advertising man is here doing what he truly loves, which is authoring the allegories and anecdotes of automobiles. Having served time in a motoring mag, he believes there's nothing more sublime than keeping the pedal floored and things burbling in top gear.

 

Comments

  • hazwan on Mar 24, 2012 at 12:58 am

    Are u kidding me..? u said fastest speed is 201 km/h..? WTF..

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    • Chris Ng (Member) on Mar 24, 2012 at 1:28 am

      did i say fastest? i meant average speed. thanks for the spot.

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      • hazwan on Mar 24, 2012 at 8:02 am

        heheheh.. no hal..

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      • maybe he dont know what is average speed..maybe when he saw average speed is 201kmh,he’s thought that is the top speed..what can u said for this kind of person?always read the articles for quarter then start to posting silly comment..pathetic

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        • hazwan on Mar 24, 2012 at 3:26 pm

          lu yang silly.. before my comment the writer write top speed.. lepas aku comment baru dia tukar.. u jgn pandai2 mau ckp org macam macam.. idiot.. writer ade ckp thanks sebab betulkan kesalahan dia.. u very stupid.. xtau apa2 cakap saje lebih..

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          • what kind of stupidity that u shown here??calling other idiot and stupid for suka2 hati..i admit that i said silly comment but it meant that u can posting back and start cursing other?very pathetic manners..

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  • i hv nothing 2 say on tech stuff….just….this is the most gorgeous lookin F1 machine for this season. I wish hv more $$$ to decorate my black neo cps resembling this

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • tokmoh on Mar 26, 2012 at 6:24 pm

      You’re probably the only person who likes the platypus nose.

      The most gorgeous modern F1 car for me is the 2005 McLaren’s MP4-20. And it was the last year F1 had the awesome V10 engine. A pity it wasn’t reliable, Kimi should’ve been the champion if not for the reliability. V8 sucks, but we gotta live with it.

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  • samsam on Mar 24, 2012 at 10:30 am

    hope he can win sepang round!

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  • T-shirt Termurah on Mar 24, 2012 at 2:52 pm

    this is the Racing Car i love it…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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