F1 News
Date: 22/March/2013
Kimi Raikkonen fired a further warning shot to his F1 rivals
by leading Friday practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, in contrasting
conditions to his season-opening victory last weekend in Australia.
Winner by 12 seconds in cool temperatures on the temporary
Melbourne circuit, Raikkonen kept his Lotus on top during sweltering
temperatures at the huge, purpose-built, Sepang International Circuit on the
outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.
Even the arrival of afternoon rain, a regular feature at
Sepang and possible game-changer for the grand prix, failed to cause concern
for the Finn.
"It was a pretty good day,” he said. “We tried changing
a few things on the car and made progress with where we wanted to be at the end
of the sessions. We had some running in the wet which you often get around here
and the car feels fine.”
Raikkonen, who finished the day just 0.019s clear of Red
Bull’s reigning triple champion Sebastian Vettel, added that he had been
preoccupied with race rather than qualifying settings.
“We ran pretty heavy today so I don't know how we'll be when
everyone is light for qualifying, but I'm happy with where we are and expect
we'll be reasonable tomorrow,” he commented.
Raikkonen’s Albert Park victory was made possible by stopping
just twice for tyres, once less than the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull. More
pit stops are expected in Sunday’s race.
“I don’t think we would have been brave enough to have
attempted a two-stop in Australia” admitted Ferrari’s Pat Fry, whose driver
Fernando Alonso finished second to Raikkonen. “Kimi was, so well done to them.
“I’d like to see Lotus try and two stop here!” he quipped.
“Generally speaking this track is one stop more than
Melbourne, so I think that might be a bit brave,” responded Lotus team
principal James Allison.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Alonso were third and fourth on
Friday.
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