F1 Racing UK June 2012

F1Racing UK June 2012

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The exclusive Kimi interview that nearly didn't happen...
I have to admit I was quite concerned when Lotus’s PR man quietly informed me that Kimi
Raikkonen was nowhere near the racetrack.We'd arranged an interview and photoshoot with this issue’s cover star at the Chinese GP but, with less than an hour to go until the allotted time, Kimi had disappeared. Suddenly, months of planning had been thrown into jeopardy by a Chinese chauffeur who had mistakenly taken Kimi on a 120-mile round trip by confusing the Shanghai International Circuit, with the Shanghai International Airport...
Thankfully, for us — and for you — the Iceman made it to the paddock just in time and was surprisingly communicative during our exclusive interview (page 46), despite the fact that he had spent most of his day lost on the elevated expressways of one of the world's largest cities.
But Raikkonnen's spirits have been buoyed since his comeback, thanks to the inherent pace of the Lotus E20. And, as his engineer Mark Slade reveals, two years in rallying has done nothing to blunt the Finn's extraordinary raw pace. The arrival of Kimi at Enstone has re-invigorated a team who haven’t had such an easy time of it in recent years, so it's apt that as they prepare to uncork the champagne bottles to celebrate 500 races in F1, we remembe1' the highs and lows of the team that started life as Toleman and became world champions as Benetton and Renault (page 54).

Elsewhere, Eddie Jordan has forthright answers to your questions (page 40) and you can enjoy a lung interview with Alan Jones on page 90. You won't regret it and, as you'll find out, neither did AJ.


"If you want to win hire a Finn"
So said Finnish F1 champ Keke Rosberg — and Lotus have followed his advice by taking on a certain Kimi Raikkonen. Here, the Iceman and his team give an exclusive insight into their challenge for the title

Rosberg's famous mantra has done the job for Williams, McLaren and even Ferrari in years gone by. And now Lolus, the Enstone-based team farmerly known as Renault, seem 10 have taken his suggestion on board as they set their sights on another world championship. Make no mistake: Kimi's two-year sojourn in rallying has done nothing to blunt his speed. He's as quick as ever and a natural team leader — and now he has a decent car there's a real belief that the Finn can win a world title for Lotus. With the team set to make their 500th grand prix appearance at Monaco this year, the crown would he a welcome boost for a squad keen to emulate past glories.
Despite the recent changes of name, the team's lineage is clear. This year's chassis, the E20, is a celebration of the squad’s 20 yezus at the Whiteways Technical Centre, just outside the tiny village of Enstone, and the three stars on the top of the chassis refer to their three world titles.Not those won by Colin Chapman's Locus, but those scored by the little team who started out in F1 as Toleman, took both titles as Benetton with Michael Schumacher in 1995, than blossomed into Renault and won two more crowns with Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006.
lt's fair so say the team have been reeling over the past few seasons. A number of crises have rocked this corner of rural Oxfordshire leading to same notable high-profile departures. First the ‘Crashgate' scandal led lo the pull-out of title sponsor ING and the removal or two key figures,Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds,the latter a stalwart of those early Toleman days. Then the team bid farewell in their talisman Fernando Alonso.That was followed by the quiet departure of Renault who are now present only as engine
supplier to the team.

With the arrival of new owners, Gerald Lopez and his Genii Capital financial group, and the
appointement of Eric Boullier as team principal,there have been a few rocky moments alongthe way. There has been a shortage of funds,a complicated legal dispute over naming rights,technical innuvntinns that have backfired, not to mention the serious rallying accident that befell Ruben Kubica — all of wich have hampered the team's rehabilitation process.
But as the 2012 season reaches Europe,it appears that the teething problems are now
being resolved as the team continued on their upward cycle of growth.The appointment of
Kimi Raikkonen was at significant shot in the arm, allied with the signing of new Sponsors
over the winter;the arrival of Total-backed Romain Grosjean (the 2011 GP2 Champion who's been given a second chance at Formula 1) and the continued excellence of their innovative technical director James Allison. Suddenly,the Lotus E20 is living up to its heritage and is delivering results. That double podium in Bahrain was an early indication of future potential success.
"It makes everybody's life a lot easier when the car is quick," enthuses Kimi Raikkonen.
who's in an unusually chatty mood today. “If you have a bad car then the atmosphere changes and everyone is less happy. It definitely helps that the baseline of the car is good and there's a good group of people here."
The only question now is wether — in this year of topsy-turvy results — the inscrutable Finn can take the E20 to the top step of the podium and mount a serious title challenge”. —



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Last summer.Eric Boullier refused to talk about Kimi Raikkonen.Full stop.He laughs when reminded about this."Yes, you're right,but it was a simple story, really." You might remember, that Kimi was being touted as a potential teammate to Robert Kubika for
the start of last year. But that was after just one phone call from Kimi‘s management and
suddenly it blew up out of all proportion.‘I learnt a lesson after that,“ Boullier says with a
smile as we talk in Lotus's hospitality suite at the back of the F1 paddock. "I decided that if anyone asked about Kimi, I would not say a thing. No way. But as you saw, he wanted to come hack to racing and then after he spoke to Williams, he did come and talk to our team again."Boullier concedes that the loss of Kubica was a huge blow for everyone and — sorry, Nick — the appointment of Heidefeld as his replacement didn't inspire anyone. But as soon as Kimi's signature landed on Boullier's desk in Enstone,the response was immediate. "When Robert had his accident, it was a big loss for us, but to have Kimi on board after a difficult and frustrating year is like a big ball of oxygen for the people in the team,” explains Boullier. “To have the name Kimi Raikkonen at a team that has previously had world champions is significant. We need a leader, he is that, and although people questioned us after his two-year absence, straight after the pre-season tests we
were smiling..."
Raikkonen and his team-mate Romain Grosjean have already started to upset the
current established order. When Michael Schumacher returned to F1 after a three-year hiatus, his performances were questioned. Kimi,on the other hand, has lost none of his pace,but don't forget he's 11 years younger. There is no one better qualified to judge Kimi now that Mark Slade, his former engineer at Mclaren,who is working with the enigmatic Finn once again at Lotus.
"It's as if he hasn‘t been away at all — he's still just as sharp as he was," says slade. “It's not in the least bit surprising really.I think he feels a little more at home in this team than in his previous ones because we're more relaxed in our approach and don't have as many pressures in terms of PR and media. But he's exactly the same person that I knew at the start of 2002 and that's the great thing about him."
It's worth putting to the man himself: is hehappier racing for this team?
"Every team is different. in the past I was with one Swiss, one English and one Italian team and they have different cultures and work in different ways.Now I am with an English teamagain, completely different from McLaren, witha more relaxed atmosphere, more easygoing,I enjoy it and hopefully that will continue to be
the case in the future," confirms the Finn. “I've always enjoyed the racing and the driving; if I had a choice, I wouldn't do all of the other side.“
Several untruths are attributed to Kimi Raikkonen. Because he's not interested in the ‘other side’,the media,the PR,the corporate front, he often gets labelled as being,
‘unmotivated or ‘lazy’. Speak to those who work most closely with him, however, and they'll tell you otherwise. "He doesn't give a damn about anything other than going fast,” says Eric Boullier. “That's all he's interested in: that is why he has this persona and people say that he must be difficult to handle, but he spends hours with the engineers — his primary focus in going quickly and he doesn't hassle himself with anything else."
His engineer Mark Slade concurs: “Most of what is written about Kimi is rubbish, and it’s mainly written by people who don't know him. He doesn't actively promo te himself and he
isn't particularly talkative, but when it comes to feedback he is excellent. His feedback is very precise and he only deals with those issues in the car that are worth worrying about — 99 times out of 100 if you just go by what he says, you'll be there. I've worked with a lot of drivers and Kimi is one of the best and easiest to work with— and the best ones make all the work you put in worthwhile because they deliver the results."
And don't underestimate Kimi's almost freakish speed.Remember,this is a man who did one season of Formula Renault, then stepped straight into F1 and scored points on his debut. The underlying raw talent explains why his driving lifts not only the spirit of the team,but is performances,too. Yet it Would be wrong to describe Kimi as aggressive behind the wheel:his driving is super smooth and precise. Slade has worked with Mika Hakkinen,Fernando Alonso and Michael Sehumacher in the past, and while it's hard to compare drivers who raced different machines, he can offer a unique insight into Kimi‘s driving and his speed.
"Some drivers don't like a sharp front end,which means they can be more aggressive with
the steering wheel, but Kimi is the opposite because he coaxes the car into the corner,"explains Slade.“If you watch his on-board telemetry it looks as if the steering is moving quite a lot, but that is where he's feeling where the grip is the whole time, and I think that is why the steering hasn't been perfect for him in the early races; he requires very sensitive feedback,whereas some drivers tend to determine what steering angle the corner requires and go to that position. If it doesn't work, they correct themselves."


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There are many top drivers in F1, but only a few are ever classed as the very best and that comes down to consistency. As Slade explains:“Formula 1 cars are extremely difficult to drive and I don't think people appreciate the extreme precision and care a top driver has, because the tyres and aero performance are on a knife edge. You have to thread a needle very carefully for 50-60 laps during a race. Kimi can do that:he is exceptionally smooth and can go out there and nail it for the whole race and be within 0.1secs every lap." And don't think he can't be bothered, as his regular desire to set the fastest lap towards the end of race is a sign that he's pushing the whole time.Kimi's qualities are primarily focused on speed, to the point where, as Boullier explains,nothing else matters. The Finn just wants to compete but, as Slade recalls, there was a time when that was a concern.“Yes, he just wants to drive the car fast and win races. Remember Indianapolis in 2005 when all the Michelin runners failed to compete?Well, I was not convinced he was going to pull into the pits with the rest of them. On the grid he was adamant that he just wanted to go out there and race and we had to make it very clear to him that it wasn't a case of ‘if' the tyre would fail, it was actually a question of how many laps before it did. But he didn't seem bothered by that: he wanted to compete. He just wanted to get on with it and I was genuinely concerned he would take the start."
Speed. For some, it's an addiction...

It was surprlslng that Lotus (that's ‘Lotus’ as in the car manufacturer), declared in 2011 that they could no longer sponsor the F1 team. And yet, the Enstone outfit will continue to race under the name ’Lotus'."It was no news to us,” says Boullier. “We've known the situation for many months and we've acted accordingly.We have a long-term commitment to use the name and we believe in the brand and we are still linked to their sister company Proton. We've worked hard to get new sponsnrs,on board,including Microsoft.We're in a good position." So be it Toleman, Benetton, Renault or Lotus.The team who are set to make their 500th start, are among the great survivors of modern times. They've been through many iterations,but keep on re-inventing themselves, and three times in the last two decades have gone on to win the championship. As tor the future, they understand the errors they made last year, and the new E20 has righted a lot of those wrongs. Boullier has a curious way of expressing the situation: “The car is a tree hiding in the forest," he says, "The technical skills are there, the car has a good baseline and now we need to push on. We are not the biggest team in F1,but we are in the top five and we need to keep this momentum going. We need to reinforce financially and we want to be in a position to be fighting for the world championship,we have
the ambition and the means to do it and we need to keep producing the perfomances."
It seems that as their 500th grand prix start grows ever draws closer, everything is headingin the right direction. And at the helm of the operation is that rather speedy Scandinavian chap. So what does he think of Keke's mantra about hiring a Finn to win?
“Well, I don't know — for sure you can find a lot of bad drivers from Finland," he chuckles.
"We've been lucky to be able to drive well from such a small country and the sport is very popular there. Maybe it's in the nature of the Finnish people — actually, if you look at the numbers, we don't win that often..."But what about another world championship?
Does he remember how it felt when he took the title with Ferrari? Can it be achieved again? And er... didn't he have a bit of a headache the day
after he scored his lifetime's ambition?
"Hmm, I don't remember," he concedes with a smile. "I think we drank more or less everything behind the bar that night and had a great evening. Then I went home to Switzerland,saw the wife and had some celebrations there.But I would have done exactly the same thing if I'd lost,” he laughs.And that's the beauty of Kimi. The best bit about it all — for him — is the raw speed.It doesn't matter about the circumstances,the first minutes of free practice, the last lap of qualifying, every lap of the race. Forgeteverything else: he wants to drive as fast as he can and the wins and titles will take care of themselves. For Kimi, a second world title is a very real possibility,for Enstone,it's time to enjoy the party.