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Kimi Räikkönen took second place at the Hungaroring to jump back into second in the Drivers’ Championship after a hot and hard-fought Hungarian Grand Prix. Kimi used a two-stop strategy for his sixth podium of the season, spurring the advances of Sebastian Vettel in the final laps. Romain Grosjean drove a storming race, withstanding a drive-through penalty and a twenty second addition to his race time to finish in sixth position. Kimi is now second in the Drivers’ Championship with 134 points to Sebastian’s 172. The team was the second highest scoring in the Constructors’ Championship today, remaining in fourth place on 183 points, but closing the gap to Ferrari on 194. Kimi started from P6 with a scrubbed set of soft tyres, changing to new medium compound tyres on laps 13 and 42. Romain started from P3 on a scrubbed set of soft tyres, changing to new sets of medium compound tyres on laps 13, 25 and 47. He made a pit lane drive-through on lap 37. Kimi Räikkönen, P2, E21-03 “It was a good race and a good result for the team. The strategy worked well. We did two long stints on the tyres but they weren’t too bad and the car felt strong so it allowed us to make one less stop. In the last few laps the rears were a bit on edge, but apart from that it was ok. Sebastian [Vettel] got the run on me a couple of times but luckily it was in places that you can’t really overtake. The main positive is that we gained a few points to Seb in the Championship. For sure we could have maybe closed the gap a little more with a win, but anything we can get back will help. We’re only halfway through the season and it will be hard to catch up, but anything can still happen so we’ll keep fighting until the end.” Romain Grosjean, P6, E21-02 “For sure this is one that got away, but I’m very happy with my race and I honestly don’t think I could have done much more. Maybe the strategy didn’t quite work how we wanted, but the car felt really good and it was the traffic that cost us. Without this maybe there would never have been a drive-through penalty which for sure didn’t help. I haven’t seen the footage yet and I thought it was a good move, but unfortunately the stewards took a different view. I’ve no problem with the time-added for the incident with Jenson and I apologised to him afterwards. This could have been the one for me, but we will just have to wait a little bit longer and keep improving like we have been recently to make it happen.” Eric Boullier, Team Principal "Another good result for Kimi today. He drove very well and was backed up by a strong strategy to help him make the podium. Romain was very unfortunate in that we couldn’t quite jump Fernando [Alonso] in the pits which cost him a lot of time, plus the drive-through penalty cost him a far better result. He made a great move at a circuit where overtaking is difficult and he had no room to do anything else. For us the Stewards’ decision was harsh. The most important thing to take from the weekend has been the pace of the car; this circuit is a bit special, and I think there will be some circuits where we have to work a bit harder, but I’m confident we’ll be consistently fighting for podiums at every race weekend in the second half of the season. Red Bull are a long way ahead, but we’ve shown today that they can be beaten so we want to keep pushing them all the way.” Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director “It was a great race today from Kimi – as always. We started the race intending a three-stop strategy, but as the race played out it became clear that a two-stop would give us better possibilities so we switched over to that strategy. Kimi drove superbly to look after his tyres but deliver exactly the pace we needed at the appropriate time. He was rewarded by returning to second in the Drivers’ Championship. I feel really sorry for Romain for what appears to be a very harsh penalty for a fantastic overtaking move on Felipe Massa. Yes, he ran off the track, but he had nowhere else to go. It certainly seemed like good racing to me; were it not for the drive-through penalty, we would have had two cars on the podium again.” Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team Support Leader “We had high expectations after our strong qualifying positions. Kimi drove a fantastic race with an aggressive strategy of two pit stops which was successful with a podium second place. Romain was very fast all the weekend but with his penalty he lost any chance to get to the podium. We controlled the engine temperatures during all the race and we demonstrated one more time that the Lotus-Renault package is really very fast. The summer break will be very good and we are looking forward to come back on track at Spa.”

Romain Grosjean will take third place on the grid with Kimi Räikkönen lining up sixth for tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix, after a hot qualifying session at the Hungaroring. Both drivers are one place behind where they qualified here in 2012 which resulted for a 2-3 finish for the team; Kimi coming home just ahead of Romain on that occasion. Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03. Q: P6, 1:19.851. FP3: P11, 1:21.589. “It hasn’t been the easiest weekend for me so far. Maybe the new tyres are a bit different – especially on the front – so it’s been hard to find a good setup. We’re getting there little by little and the car was definitely better in qualifying than at any other point this weekend. Obviously P6 is not ideal, but it’s better than we have seen sometimes so we’ll try and see what we can do tomorrow. It’s not so easy to overtake here, but we have seen in past years that if you can run with the tyres well you can make a lot of places, so let’s see what we can do.” Romain Grosjean, E21-05. Q: P3, 1:19.595. FP3: P1, 1:20.730. “It’s been a good weekend so far with the car consistently showing strong pace. Setting the fastest time in practice this morning was a good sign, and the car was handling really well throughout each qualifying session. Lewis set a very quick time, but we’re not too far from Sebastian [Vettel] and anything could happen in the race depending on the tyres. I think tomorrow will be very open and a lot will depend on strategy, traffic and things like that, so if we can put everything together there’s the strong possibility for a good result.” Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: How was qualifying for the team? We’re reasonably happy but – of course – we always want more. Everything went pretty much as we expected. For Romain, his single lap and long run pace has been strong and Kimi is much more on top of his car than yesterday. From third and sixth there’s no reason why we can’t have a strong race with both drivers. Who do we see as the main rivals for a good result? We see Sebastian Vettel as our main challenger in the race. The Mercedes did go well in Monaco on a tight and twisty circuit – in the race as well as in qualifying – but here tyre degradation should be more of a factor. This should help us in our fight for a good result. We saw some sideways moments from Kimi in the last corner; any concerns? It happened a couple of times and certainly makes for nice slow motion television. He has complained of the rear sliding which has been something we’ve focused on eliminating through setup tweaks. Romain just missed out on P2; how much of a difference is it here between being on the front or second row? Third is actually almost as good as second here as you start on the clean side of the grid and it’s a very dusty circuit. Lewis [Hamilton] and Sebastian were just too strong for us in qualifying, but there’s potential for us to have a very good race tomorrow.

Romain Grosjean set the third fastest time on the opening day of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, with Kimi Räikkönen third in the morning and eighth in the afternoon after a productive day of running at the Hungaroring. Both cars ran with the team’s slimline bodywork configuration and without the ‘Device’ for what was both drivers’ first taste of the latest medium and soft compound Pirelli tyres. Technical Programme Notes: Both cars ran with new mirrors, rear floor updates and exhaust configurations. Pirelli’s medium compound tyre was used in the morning, the medium and soft in the afternoon. Cooling levels were monitored closely in the high temperatures. What We Learned Today: Setup was modified for the latest specification tyres. Soft tyre performance and long run performance were both favourable today, with evident areas for performance gains tomorrow. Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03 Free practice 1: P3, 1:23.010, 20 laps Free practice 2: P8, 1:22.011, 32 laps Kimi: “It wasn’t ideal today but it wasn’t that bad either. We took a bit of time to understand the new tyres and it was also very hot. It’s too early to say if the heat will suit us with these new tyres, but we’ll soon have a better idea. I had some traffic in the afternoon and so wasn’t able to set a fast lap on new tyres, plus we have some areas to improve on with the setup. We’ll try to do the best that we can in qualifying and we’ll see where we are. If we get the car right we should be ok tomorrow.” Romain Grosjean, E21-02 Free practice 1: P5, 1:23.111, 20 laps Free practice 2: P3, 1:21.417, 40 laps Romain: “It’s been a good day overall. I didn’t get to try the new tyres at Silverstone so the main focus was to work on getting the most from them which all went ok. To be honest they’re not really night and day from the old ones, which is good as it means we haven’t had to change too much. There’s still a bit of graining and degradation to deal with but that’s normal. Our pace looks pretty good on both compounds, but the field is quite close so it’s hard to say where we are. We’ll just keep doing our best to find the right compromise for qualifying and the race and see where we stand at the end of the weekend.” Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “A good solid Friday for us with nothing untoward to note – save for a leaky drinks system – during the course of the day. The car is clearly working well here and we have no concerns about the heat. Kimi’s afternoon time isn’t representative as he got caught up with a McLaren on his fast lap and we have no concerns about our long or short run pace. We paid particular attention to the various temperature levels on the car to ensure cooling levels are sufficient for Sunday and we’re happy with all the data we’ve seen so far.”

With four second-place finishes and one victory in Hungary, our Finn reckons he knows what’s needed for a strong weekend in Budapest. What makes a good weekend in Hungary? I have finished second in Hungary too many times, so I know how important it is to lead the race after the first corner. DRS or not, it’s never easy to overtake at the Hungaroring. To get the weekend right, you have to have good sessions in FP1, FP2 and FP3, then a strong qualifying session and finally a perfect start to the race. But your only win here came in 2005 starting from fourth on the grid? I got a very good start to be second at the end of the first lap and everything went well from there. What's the atmosphere like? It is always nice to go to Hungary. The circuit is not the most difficult of them all, but it is a really challenging venue as it’s usually very hot which makes it a demanding race. Of course, the heat has helped us with the car so far this year so that will make things better, but only if it’s a win will you not suffer from the heat. What are the key elements to a fast car at the Hungaroring? A fast car. It’s such a slow, twisty circuit, so two things are really important there; good turn-in and good traction. If you have those, you have a strong car for the race. How do you ensure a good start? Obviously you need to get to the front in the qualifying, but also avoid the dirty side of the track on the grid. When you look back through the races this season, it seems the dirty side of the track is a real disadvantage in the starts. In some ways this is viewed as a "home" Grand Prix for you? Many times Hungary has been called as the Grand Prix of Finland. A lot of Finns go to this race every year and it is always nice to see the blue and white flags waving. Any more thoughts after your second place in the German Grand Prix? The points were good and we had a strong car. Again we saw that warmer temperatures suited us and we usually get hot weather in Budapest so that should be a good thing. Of course, you never know until you have driven the track in this year’s car. In Germany, my radio wasn’t working properly and I got stuck behind the Mercedes which didn’t help my race. The performance of the cars was pretty close and it’s easier to overtake at the Nürburgring than it is at the Hungaroring, so we will need to qualify well. Was missing your final pit stop there an option? My tyres felt pretty okay when we came to change them, but you cannot know how long they would have lasted or what would have happened in the race. It didn’t help that we had the radio problem as my engineers couldn’t hear me, although I could hear them asking me the questions. It’s easy to say ‘we should have done this’, but you never know for sure unless you try that strategy. We were right with Seb [Vettel] at the end of the race through coming in and putting on the soft tyres, but maybe if we had done things a bit differently we would have been slightly in front rather than slightly behind. This was your best ever result in Germany; Does it taste any better than the previous ones or is it only victory that makes the difference? Obviously we are here to try and win races. We couldn’t in Germany because we were not fast enough, but for the team it was a good result after a couple of quite difficult races. We lost some more points to the lead as Seb won, but it’s still a long season and if we keep putting ourselves in a position to at least be fighting for first place then I think we can do it again. Can you go one better in Budapest? There’s no point speculating before you get there. Hopefully we get the result we are looking for. It would be nice to take the break after this race and recharge the batteries in the middle of the season with a good result on the board, but most importantly, it would be good to have the points.