Räikkönen hopes for better qualifications

Kimi Räikkönen will be closely followed this weekend at the Malaysian Grand Prix after his surprising victory in Melbourne where the Lotus driver took advantage of the low degradation of the E21 tires to make one stop less than his direct opponents. The Finn logically arrives as leader of the Championship but Iceman assures that this special status will not change the team's approach for this weekend. “We are not doing anything different compared to the other previous events last year. If people think we are the leaders, it makes no difference to our work. We will just do our best and hope to score some good points. »

Nevertheless, Kimi Räikkönen's performance last weekend surprised the paddock of the F1 after average qualifying in Melbourne. The 2007 world champion only started from seventh place on the starting grid while his teammate Romain Grosjean started alongside him in eighth place. “I wouldn't say that qualifying was a normal situation with the weather and the postponement of the sessions. I'm pretty sure we'll be closer under normal conditions, at least I hope so. We will wait until we have a dry qualifying session, but I am sure we are not a second away. We were pretty competitive with the heat last year but we haven't encountered these types of conditions yet. »