Räikkönen: A reward for Lotus

Kimi Räikkönen was hoping for a podium at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, he will leave the Yas Marina paddock with a victory. The Finn, who started from third place on the starting grid following the penalty imposed on Sebastian Vettel, moved to second place behind the pole sitter Lewis Hamilton taking advantage of the missed departure of Mark Webber. Iceman tried to overtake the driver regularly McLaren but he will ultimately take the lead in the race following the Briton's retirement due to a mechanical problem. Although the intervention of the safety car reduced his lead, the 2007 world champion was able to resist the attacks from Fernando Alonso, to become the eighth winner of the season and thus offer the first victory to enstone since the 2008 Japanese GP won by Fernando Alonso.

The Lotus driver is delighted with his result in his first year with Lotus and now hopes to achieve further success with his team. “I am especially happy for my team, this season has been difficult for them”, he comments. “I hope this victory leads to others this year as well as next year. There is nothing to get excited about either, there are still a few races to go. We will try to achieve the same performance. We are going to have a great party today and when we feel bad tomorrow, we will remember how we feel now. We have been close to victory on several occasions. We already had enough speed to win during the last event (in India. Editor’s note), but we saw what happened when we didn't go to the forefront. The start remains the key to the race. I think we didn't have enough speed at the start of the race against McLaren, but we have to finish the race. »

Discover the analysis of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from Tuesday in digital version for iPad, PC and Mac, and from Wednesday on newsstands.