Räikkönen: The Lotus E21 can go faster

Kimi Räikkönen took the wheel of the Lotus E21 for the first time today at Jerez and ended the session with the fourth fastest time (1'19"200) 1"321 behind the new benchmark time set by Felipe Massa. The Finn started his first flying laps last after asking his team to adjust their car to its piloting. Iceman was only able to complete 40 laps before experiencing a clutch problem. If this first day of testing for the winner of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was not perfect, the Lotus driver still remains satisfied with his first laps with his new car.

“It was good to get back behind the wheel of a F1 », declared Kimi Räikkönen at the end of the day. “The E21 seems quite competitive so far even if the balance doesn't suit me yet. This did not prevent us from continuing the program we wanted to do which included a lot of relays focused on aerodynamics. We know the car can go faster but we just realized what we had to do. It's a shame we had a clutch problem at the end of the day, but that's why we test, to identify the problems and repair them. »

Results of the third day of testing in Jerez:

1/ Felipe Massa? Ferrari ? 1'17"879? 86 rounds
2/ Nico Rosberg? Mercedes ? 1'18 »766 (+0 »887)? 148 rounds
3/ Sebastian Vettel ? Red Bull ? 1'19 »052 (+1 »173)? 102 rounds
4/ Kimi Räikkönen? Lotus? 1’19”200 (+1”321)? 40 rounds
5/ Jean-Eric Vergne? Toro Rosso ? 1'19 »247 (+1 »368)? 85 rounds
6/ James Rossiter? Force India? 1’19”303 (+1”424)? 42 rounds
7/ Jenson Button? McLaren ? 1 »19 »603 (+1 »724)? 83 rounds
8/ Esteban Gutiérrez? Sauber? 1'19"934 (+2"055)? 110 rounds
9/ Max Chilton? Marussia? 1'21"269 (+3"390)? 78 rounds
10 / Valtteri Bottas ? Williams ? 1'21 »575 (+3 »696)? 86 rounds
11/ Charles Pic? Caterham? 1'22"352 (+4"473)? 57 rounds
12/ Paul di Resta? Force India? 1’23”729 (+5”850)? 7 rounds