Bahrain GP - Post-race press conference - Pt.2

Drivers: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus), Romain Grosjean (Lotus).

Questions From The Floor

Q: (Paolo Ianieri - La Gazzetta dello Sport)
Kimi, was it the right decision to come in for the last pit stop at the same time as Sebastian? Could you have waited one more lap?

Kimi Raikkonen:
That was the plan. Even if we came in a lap later it would be more or less the same. That was our plan and we followed it. They came in at the same time.

Q: (Michael Schmidt - Auto, Motor und Sport)
Sebastian, Lotus already had about 11 kph more in top speed in practice and then on top of that Kimi had DRS and he was behind you. Did it surprise you that you could keep him behind?

Sebastian Vettel:
I thought exactly the same thing to be honest, when I saw that he was closing in, because we've seen that they are very quick on the straight all weekend. I was particularly aware that as soon as he got into the DRS zone then it would be difficult to keep him behind. So yeah, I think we could see that one time he was fairly close, he got the DRS and he had more speed at the end of the straight than I had. Sure, I think that you pick your optimum for speed, downforce, top speed and you pick whatever you believe is best. I think that all in all it was the right decision to do what we did. I used DRS once in the race, so I didn't use it too often, but after that, I was happy that Kimi ran into the same problems with the tyres and I could get a little bit of a gap out of the last corner which was enough to survive the straight. I think we also had a bit of head wind down the straight, and that's also an advantage for the car behind. I would say it was just enough.

Q: (Livio Oricchio - O Estado de Sao Paulo)
The question is for the three drivers: a comment from you about four races, four different winners from different teams, and what do you expect from the rest of the season?

Sebastian Vettel:
As we've said, I think it's obviously very good to watch. I think those four races have been extremely tight. We had one race where it was pretty chaotic, in Malaysia, with rain etc so up and down. Small things can make a big difference over the weekend - how much tyres you might have left, lap one, gear ratios you might pick, whether DRS is effective or not and you can come back. I think it was a different race here compared to the last race where we had people running in a chain and not being able to pass or not being able to pass too easily. All these things make a big difference and temperature-wise, all four races were very different. Track layouts were different so I'm not surprised that we have a different result every weekend.

Romain Grosjean:
Who knows? Who is able to tell who will be World Champion? I think it's like it's never been before. Q2 in China was incredible: ten cars in three tenths or eleven cars. It's just amazing and it just depends who is bringing new updates, but I think the season will be how it is so far and you will have to get the last hundredths and the last tenths to get on the podium.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri - La Gazzetta dello Sport)
You're now going to have three days of testing in Mugello ; do you think that some teams are going to bring big updates, like Ferrari who are struggling a lot? What are your plans for your cars, are you also having big updates? Do you more or less know the direction?

Kimi Raikkonen:
I don't what the others are doing, you will have to ask them. I'm not aware of our plans regarding the test and we will see what happens there. I haven't talked about it. We first have to finish this race and then put the effort into the test and then go racing after that. I can't say what the other teams are going to do. We try to find more understanding of the car and improve it.

Sebastian Vettel:
First of all, I think it will be difficult to create a miracle. I think the regulations this year make it very difficult so sure I think every team has something on the list. We've seen that sometimes people bring parts and they don't work so it's not always given that a new parts push you in the right direction so of course it's very useful to have a test in Mugello, to have some more time than just in free practice on Friday, to evaluate first of all whether the package you are running is the best and whatever new parts you might have for the week after in Barcelona is the right way to go.

Q: (Khoda Rawi - F1Arab.com)
Kimi, a good result today, but do you think Lotus can keep up the momentum for the next races?

Kimi Raikkonen:
We will try. It's the same story; I have no idea what's going to happen in the next races but the team's been pushing hard to try to improve the car, bringing new parts, but of course they haven't been working as well as we hoped, but anyhow, they are bringing new updates every time when they can. We try to keep pushing and stay up there, but I cannot answer because they are not. That's our aim and that's what we're working for and hopefully it will happen, but who knows how well we can improve or what the others will do. The team is doing good work and we deserve to be here and hopefully we can stay up here in other races also.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri - La Gazzetta dello Sport)
Are you surprised, Kimi, that it took you only four races to return to the podium?

Kimi Raikkonen:
It could have been in the first three races also, not putting ourselves in a bad position and some problems, being a bit smarter than certain teams but we know from the winter that we have a very good car, good baseline package and just have to make the right decisions and put ourselves where the car can be. This weekend it worked, last weekend it didn't. We know that the speed is there, we just need to try to get everything exactly right.