Kimi Räikkönen is confident that Lotus made the right choice in keeping the coandă exhausts on its cars, with the Finn having qualified inside the top five for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. With three races to go in 2012, the 2007 World Champion still holds an outside chance of the title.
Previously, Lotus had run a power-maximising exhaust solution which was unique in the paddock and gave extra horsepower to Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean. The new coandă concept maybe result in less power, but yields greater downforce which is vital when it comes to the tight and twisty corners at the end of the Yas Marina lap.
“Qualifying was good,” Räikkönen reported, having so far competed in just one Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for Ferrari back in 2009.
“The car hasn’t felt fantastic but we decided we weren’t going to change the car’s setup from where it was for the last race. It was the right choice because in the end the circuit came to us in qualifying, when the car was the best it has been so far here.
“We’ll give tomorrow our best shot. Let’s see if we can make a good start to get right behind the Red Bulls - and then we’ll see what happens after that.”
With just Abu Dhabi, the USA and Brazil to go, Räikkönen sits third in the drivers’ table. He lies 67 points in arrears of Sebastian Vettel and there are 75 points still on the table.
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:40.630 | 15 |
| 2. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:40.978 | 17 |
| 3. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 01:41.226 | 22 |
| 4. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | 01:41.260 | 20 |
| 5. | J. Button | McLaren | 01:41.290 | 20 |
| 6. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:41.582 | 17 |
| 7. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:41.603 | 17 |
| 8. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 01:41.723 | 17 |
| 9. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 01:41.778 | 24 |
| 10. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 01:42.019 | 16 |
| Full results | ||||
| Kimi Räikkönen | |||
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| More Kimi Räikkönen photos | |||
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