Raikkonen pins hopes on Korea upgrade

Kimi Raikkonen is not expecting a dramatic upturn in Lotus’ form before a major update package arrives at the Korean Grand Prix.

Although the Finn is still gunning for the world championship, Raikkonen is cautious about what he can achieve in Japan this weekend judging by the recent form of his team.

“We have not been even close in the last races, so hopefully we can stronger but I’m not really hoping that we are suddenly going to be fastest,” explained Raikkonen.

“We saw what happened in the last races, but maybe I am wrong. I hope so…”

As AUTOSPORT revealed last week, Lotus is planning to introduce a raft of aerodynamic developments to its E20 for next week’s event in Korea.

Raikkonen hopes that those new parts lift the pace of the car at a time when he needs to start closing the 45-point gap deficit to Fernando Alonso.

“I think we are falling off a little bit from the others, who have improved a bit,” explained Raikkonen. “So we have some small parts, new parts here, and hopefully it will get us back more where we have been before.

“But we have to do the best we can here, and hopefully in Korea we should get some bigger improvements. If they work that should improve things even more.”

Raikkonen will test the Lotus double-DRS in Friday practice at Suzuka, with his team hoping it can get it to work effectively enough to be raced for the first time.

And although Raikkonen’s season-long consistency means he remains in with a shout of winning the title without actually winning a race, he says he does not care about anything other than the championship.

“If we could win it [the title], I don’t care how it comes,” he said. “If we win it, we win it and that is it.

“But at the moment it doesn’t look very good. We have been in a worse situation, but we keep trying. As long as we have a small chance we keep trying and hopefully we can improve our position.”

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/raikkonen-pins-hopes-on-korea-upgrade

Al Herman Hans Herrmann François Hesnault Hans Heyer Damon Hill