After a busy few weeks, Kimi returned to the home of Lotus F1 Team
today refreshed from the recent break. Aside from catching up with all
the latest developments back at base, he also had a glimpse into the
future…
Spain, Geneva, Australia, Malaysia, Lebanon and of course the UK;
Kimi has been here, there and everywhere already in 2012 and we’re
barely into April! It was back to work today at Enstone for the 2007
World Champion with an exciting start to the day, as his race engineer
Mark Slade explains:
“Kimi’s main priority today was to sit in a basic
mock-up we have of next year’s car. There’s some re-thinking in terms
of the driver position for 2013, and we wanted to test it out before
committing any further to the concept. It may seem early, but it’s
better to do these things sooner rather than later otherwise it can
hold up the whole design process. We’re assessing very basic features
at this point; making sure the changes we’re considering are going to
be ok for him and he didn’t have any problems with it which is good
news! He’s a pleasure to deal with, especially on the technical side.”
Next up was a trip to the Design Office to catch up with the
engineers in preparation for the Chinese Grand Prix next week, where
Mark was once again on hand to run through the key points with his
driver:
“We just took the chance to have a brief chat about
things before Shanghai. This included discussions over the power
steering and what we’re planning for that, aero improvements we have
coming for the next race, and also some damper mods. We basically just
gave him a quick run-down on what to expect in China, and what we’re
hoping for.”
“Kimi has always gone very well at Shanghai. The
last time I worked with him there was in 2006, when he was running in a
strong P2 during a wet / dry race until technical problems forced him
to retire. That was a real shame, but he had always performed well
there in previous years as well with P3 in 2004 and P2 in 2005. Then of
course there was his win in 2007.”
To round off the day, the 2007 World Champion dropped in to the
team’s new Driver-in-the-Loop simulator building to have a look around
the facility, which is scheduled for completion in the coming weeks. No
doubt he’ll be spending a significant amount of time there, so best to
get used the surroundings in advance!
Fonte: Lotus F1 Team
One Response to “Welcome Back! – Kimi Räikkönen Drops in to Enstone”
Eu me surpreendo cada vez mais com a Lotus!
Eles estão trabalhano a cada dia para obter resultados no futuro!
Essa visita do Kimi a Enstone em prol do carro de 2013 mostra o quanto eles estão focados em melhorar, e também não deixando de pensar nesse ano e vendo já modificações para o GP da China!
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