Kimi Raikkonen Unconcerned With Testing Issues Ahead Of Australia

Kimi Raikkonen is unconcerned with the issues met during testing by Lotus, as the Finn prepares for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix around Melbourne’s Albert Park street circuit. During the final winter test around Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, Lotus completed the least amount of mileage behind Williams.

However, Kimi Raikkonen is remaining optimistic with his Championship chances ahead of the new season, with Lotus still regarded by many within the paddock as the dark horse once again this season. Last year many predicted a Lotus victory throughout the majority of the season, however the Finn could only manage one victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix towards the end of the season. Despite this lone victory, the Enstone-based outfit still managed to finish 4th in the Championship.

“We had some problems in testing but we still completed quite a few laps.” Explained Kimi Raikkonen, “Of course, you always want more laps, but it is what it is. We’re all going racing and then we’ll really see where we’re at. I’m not really concerned about reliability or anything like that as it was the same problem which caused us the biggest problems in testing and we’re on top of that now. You can never be 100% certain of course, but if you look at last season we had problems before the start of the year then we were pretty good when we got to the races. Of course we hope that we can perform better than last year, but let’s see how it goes.”

Due largely to Kimi Raikkonen’s sensational competitiveness during last season, which saw him complete all but one racing lap throughout the year, many are predicting the Finn to be a Championship contender alongside the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. However, like the majority of the Formula 1 paddock, Kimi Raikkonen is unsure of the true pecking order of the grid and is therefore remaining coy on his Championship chances.

“Hopefully, but it’s so difficult to say from testing.” Continued Kimi Raikkonen, when asked whether he felt better placed to fight for the Championship. “Twenty kilos of fuel can make a big difference to lap time and we don’t know how much fuel people were carrying in Spain. Let’s see what happens in Melbourne. Hopefully we can be fast in the first races and have a good start to the year.”

With the unpredictability and competitiveness of last season expected to continue this year, Kimi Raikkonen and Lotus will be striving to battle for further race victories. The Finn, a former Champion of the sport, is well versed in securing race victories in Formula 1 and is expected to once again shine in 2013.

Picture Copyright © Lotus F1 Team