Embarrassment for Raikkonen? The Reborn Grosjean...

[lebesset]

I thought Kimi did a very good job for his first outing, it didn't help him starting near the back but the two extra spots he got gifted at the end did.
The fight for the mid-field looks like it could be as tight as the one for the top spot
I'am looking foward to the prospect of a few Kimi vs Kamui battles, this could be good veiwing

the three places he lost at turn one when he made a detour onto the grass to avoid the problems ahead of him certainly dodn't help ...maybe he worked out that staying in the race might be the best way to get a reasonable result

[Bob Brown]

Yeah I thought Kimi did a great job for what he had, especially with all those cars and debris in front of him at various times.

Definitely the Quali hurt him. This should be a great season!

[lebesset]

just watched the repeats

when kimi was in the shambles at the beginning he virually stopped and drove off onto the grass to avoid a collision

I though grosjean was hit ...in reality he had been overtaken , but didn't have the sense to give it up by going wide like kimi did , the collision was with the BACK wheel of the other car

[stefan_]

That was on Maldonado, Grosjean left him more than enough room.

[jamsbong]

"Embarrassment for Raikkonen? The Reborn Grosjean..."???

No way, Raikkonen scored points, Grosjean didn't. Raikkonen 6. Grosjean 0.
If it was another driver, I would say Grosjean might have a chance but we are talking about the iceman here.

[beelsebob]

"Embarrassment for Raikkonen? The Reborn Grosjean..."???

No way, Raikkonen scored points, Grosjean didn't. Raikkonen 6. Grosjean 0.
If it was another driver, I would say Grosjean might have a chance but we are talking about the iceman here.

In all fairness, Grosjean's lack of points had a lot to do with Igor smashing his car.

[Donuts]

Way to early to say anything... but one thing is "for sure". Kimi Raikkonen drove an excellent race after making a misstake in qualifying and having some bad luck. His sectortimes in qualifying were just as good as Grosjean's and he was on the harder tyres*! It'll be very interesting to see which of the Lotus drivers qualifies the best in Malaysia. I put my bet on Kimi Raikkonen, but I'm not betting too much.

*Let's say that Kimi Raikkonen is as fast with the hard tyres as Romain Grosjean is with the soft, that will mean he'll be about 0.5 s faster on the softs. He will challenge for pole position in Malaysia?

[lebesset]

"Embarrassment for Raikkonen? The Reborn Grosjean..."???

No way, Raikkonen scored points, Grosjean didn't. Raikkonen 6. Grosjean 0.
If it was another driver, I would say Grosjean might have a chance but we are talking about the iceman here.

In all fairness, Grosjean's lack of points had a lot to do with Igor smashing his car.

watch it again , grosjean lacks the sense to run wide and stay in the race , no way could he stay on the track and not collide

if the stewards decided the overtake was illegal he would have got his place back when maldonardo was given a drive through

if the stewards decide the overtake was OK he would just have lost a place

[Ian P.]

Advantage ..... Kimi.

What is clear and known out of all of this .... we don't know much.
Is it going to be interesting .... you BET.
I don't think Lotus will be fighting it out with the midfield runners too much. I suspect they will be closer to the front, not the back.
Gonna be GREAT.

[jamsbong]

Usually guys from further back have higher chances of crashing than the front guys. This is because you have to deal with more traffic and really beware 360deg negotiating the 1st corner.
So even just surviving the first corner then first lap from the back end of the grid, to me, is a great achievement! Kimi not only did that but also gained 5places on the 1st lap.
Overall, to be put fairly:
Grosjean was a hero on Saturday and zero on sunday.
Vice versa for Kimi.

[Donuts]

Usually guys from further back have higher chances of crashing than the front guys. This is because you have to deal with more traffic and really beware 360deg negotiating the 1st corner.
So even just surviving the first corner then first lap from the back end of the grid, to me, is a great achievement! Kimi not only did that but also gained 5places on the 1st lap.
Overall, to be put fairly:
Grosjean was a hero on Saturday and zero on sunday.
Vice versa for Kimi.

I agree about Kimi, not about Romain. If you watch cockpit video, he had an equally good launch at the start as his closest competitors, but when he changed gears, suddently the car lost a lot of acceleration. Not much he could do and even less when Maldonado(or as someone called him "Igor") gave him no space at all and ran him of the circuit(very evident if you look at slow-motion video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0aIuVHrm5k). Last but not least, bare in mind that this was his first Australian GP and that he's been absent from F1 for a while! Bad luck is what it was, happens to everyone once in a while.

[raymondu999]

Romain misshifted and he hit the limiter. Brundle said it, and Romain admitted it. But he was good otherwise. The crash with Malders was Malders' fault.

[Donuts]

Romain misshifted and he hit the limiter. Brundle said it, and Romain admitted it. But he was good otherwise. The crash with Malders was Malders' fault.

He shifted to early? Is that what you mean?

[raymondu999]

No - he shifted way too late. The 1st gear was on the limiter already; then he shifted some 1 or 2 seconds later. Again - no shame in that. He's in an F1 ar that's known for lightning starts - it may have just caught him off guard. Or maybe the lack of real 1st gear corners caught him out in terms of how short his first gear was.

[FrukostScones]

I was not happy with Grosjean colliding with Maldonado(because I had a podium bet for GRO), but I think he was a bit overeager, after losing so many places at the start he did not want to lose another place against Maldonado that quickly, you can see Grosjeans defensive move, Maldonado is way quicker, overtakes him but instead of letting him pass, Grosjean makes contact.
Not so clever but maybe a bit unlucky. It was maybe an aggressive move by Maldonado but he was quicker atm and this is racing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sHlsOYOIns