Jump to content
  • Welcome to Midlands Lotus Owners Club (MLOC)

    Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to contribute to this site by submitting your own content or replying to existing content. You'll be able to customize your profile, receive reputation points as a reward for submitting content, while also communicating with other members via your own private inbox, plus much more!

    This message will be removed once you have signed in.

Mark H
Mark H

2013 Canadian Grand Prix, Saturday

Kimi Räikkönen will start from ninth on the grid and Romain Grosjean a distant 29th - or thereabouts - after a hectic qualifying session for the Canadian Grand Prix. Following a shortened morning practice session, qualifying was wet throughout with a brief red flag period nearing the end of Q2.

Romain was a victim of unfortunate timing as a yellow flag affected one fast lap in Q1, and an increasingly wet track prevented another. He qualified 19th, meaning he will start from the back of the 22-car grid once his ten-place grid penalty is factored in.

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03. Q: P9, 1:27.432. FP3: P10, 1:20.316

 

“We didn’t have grip in these conditions so we did pretty much all we could do, but if there’s no grip you can’t go faster. In this weather it’s difficult as sometimes the rain gets harder, sometimes the track is drying so you have to try to be out there when the circuit’s at its best. P9 on the grid is not what we want so we’ll have to see what we can do in the race tomorrow.”

Romain Grosjean, E21-02. Q: P19, 1:25.716. FP3: P11, 1:20.596

 

“Clearly not the best day, and of course with the grid penalty I now start in what should be P29 for the race, which is a long way back! After we changed to new intermediates mid-way through the session I had one lap to set a time when the track was at its driest, but there were yellow flags after someone went straight on so I had to slow down and respect the warning. Then the track was too wet to go faster. We got caught out a little bit by the weather but it’s nobody’s fault; just yet more bad luck. In these conditions it’s impossible to predict when the rain will be at its heaviest and we didn’t see anything from the radar to suggest it would get worse. It’s going to be a long race from the back, but we know the car is quick so our weekend is far from over yet.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:

 

How was qualifying for the team?

It was a disappointing day for us. Romain couldn’t get a good lap in the first session meaning he will start from the back of the grid. Kimi struggled too and will start from ninth, which is not where we want to be. The E21 clearly wasn’t working well in the wet conditions experienced today. We opted for a more dry weather focused set-up which, although it hindered us today, should benefit us tomorrow if the weather does stay dry. We certainly weren’t expecting the level of water that we did see on the track during qualifying.

How difficult was it on the pitwall through qualifying?

It wasn’t that difficult as it was consistently wet rather than being wet and dry giving us a decision to make on which tyres to run. We went for the first lap of Q1 with both cars using the super soft dry tyre and it was immediately clear that it was too wet for slicks. After that, timing and finding space on track became the key considerations. Predicting when there might be yellow flags, unfortunately, is a very difficult science.

What are the predictions for tomorrow’s weather and strategy?

Certainly we expect it to be warmer than today and that should help us. There’s still a chance of rain, but the track and air temperatures should be of benefit. If it is dry then we – like all of the teams – will be learning the slick tyre performance as we go along as there has been only limited running on them so far this weekend. That said, I think it could be a race of 1-2 pit stops rather than a 3-4 stop strategy.

User Feedback

Recommended Comments

There are no comments to display.



Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Newbie question

    As the title suggests , a newbie query. I have just bought an S2 Elise , 2007 with the Toyota 1ZZ power unit in ‘ touring spec’. That means electric windows, a radio and , err, not sure what else. Anyway, that is not the subject of the query. The car is blue with a cream interior. The latter I don’t plan to keep. In fact , already bought some equivalent second hand door cards in black and am looking hard at a pair of Corbeau LE seats . So, first part of my query centres on those Corbeau seats. A

    Andy wright
    Andy wright
    General Talk 165

    Using LED projectors in a lotus S2

    Hello guys. I am surprised there is not more on here about using Led Projectors for the dip beam in the US you can get the ORE kit which is still a bit pricy.  I beleve he found a good unit that people can retrofit, and provided the extra brackets to adapt it. Link I am trying some brighter bulbs for now, but do think there must be a reasonably proces solution to go LED with somthing reliable, and fassion our own brackets. I can do CAD and many people will cut seel to a drawing for

    William D8on
    William D8on
    Technical Talk 6

    Learn to repair clamshell myself

    Hi 👋  I have recently brought a damaged exige 430cup and the front clam needs repairs.   I’ve started to repair cars a couple years ago and gaining more confidence to have ago myself. I have never done fibre glass repairs, but wondered if anyone in the midlands can give me some tips on how best to get started?      Thks 

    JDUK
    JDUK
    Technical Talk 3

    Bilstein Repair Service

    Hi A couple of weeks ago my 2008 Elise failed its MOT due to leaking rear Bilstein dampers. A look on elise parts and they were £330 incl Vat each without the springs, so I decided to look at my options and found out that Bilstein offer a rebuild service. Dropped them of at their service centre in Leicester last Monday, picked them up yesterday. £140 incl vat per damper for new seals, pistons, gas and oil plus a degrease so less than half the cost of new ones. Very good

    Badger02
    Badger02
    Technical Talk 16

    Calendar 2025

    It’s arrived !   Great job of the Calender fella’s.  Some excellent photos, well done everyone 👍🏻

    Oakman
    Oakman
    General Talk 5
  • MLOC garage

  • Member Statistics

    4,352
    Total Members
    1,800
    Most Online
    William D8on
    Newest Member
    William D8on
    Joined
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Terms of Use