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☛ 862nd Formula 1 Grand Prix
☛ 22th victory for Sebastian Vettel
☛ 31th pole position for Sebastian Vettel
☛ 4th Hat trick for Sebastian Vettel
☛ 10th fastest lap for Sebastian Vettel
☛ 1st podium for Romain Grosjean
☛ 1st lead lap for Paul Di Resta
☛ 28th win for Red Bull Racing
☛ 39th pole position for Red Bull as constructor
☛ 143rd win for Renault Engine
☛ 194th pole position for Renault as engine builder
1 S. Vettel Red Bull Racing 3
2 K. Räikkönen Lotus + 3,3 3
3 R. Grosjean Lotus + 10,1 3
4 M. Webber Red Bull Racing + 38,7 3
5 N. Rosberg Mercedes AMG + 55,4 3
6 P. di Resta Force India + 57,5 2
7 F. Alonso Ferrari + 57,8 3
8 L. Hamilton McLaren + 58,9 3
9 F. Massa Ferrari + 64,9 3
10 M. Schumacher Mercedes AMG + 71,4 3
11 S. Perez Sauber + 72,7 3
12 N. Hülkenberg Force India + 76,5 3
13 K. Kobayashi Sauber + 90,3 3
14 J. Vergne Scud. Toro Rosso + 93,7 3
15 D. Ricciardo Scud. Toro Rosso + 1L 3
16 V. Petrov Caterham + 1L 3
17 H. Kovalainen Caterham + 1L 4
19 T. Glock Marussia + 2L 3
20 P. de la Rosa Hispania Racing + 2L 3
21 N. Karthikeyan Hispania Racing + 2L 4
OUT
?? C. Pic Marussia Defekt
26 B. Senna Williams Defekt
27 P. Maldonado Williams Defekt
56 J. Button McLaren Defekt
Lotus-Renault were forced to abandon ship this morning, when a fire ripped through their paddock hospitality unit. It was started at 0330 by a malfunctioning fridge and it wasn’t brought under control before it had destroyed everything in its path: clothing, catering equipment and even one of Kimi Raikkonen’s helmets. No-one was injured in the blaze, but what really hurt was the knowledge that the team had asked someone from the circuit to check the fridge earlier in the day because it had repeatedly tripped their fuse box…
Kimi Raikkonen says his Lotus car had the potential to be high up the grid despite being knocked out of qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix in the opening segment, due to a mistake of his own admission.
The Lotus driver will start the race from 18th position after a driving error and a communication issue with his team meant he did not complete his final flying lap. Team-mate Romain Grosjean meanwhile, proved the E20’s speed by qualifying third, within 0.4s of the pace-setting McLarens.
“Today didn’t go quite as planned,” said the Finn. “There’s no issue with the car; I made a mistake and there was a communication issue so the timing wasn’t right to get another lap.
“It cost us a good qualifying position but that’s how it goes sometimes.
“We should have easily been in Q2. It’s not the best start but we’ll try to put it right in the race. There’s plenty of speed in the car.
“The steering was fine. It’s not perfect for exactly what I want but it doesn’t affect my driving. For sure we can do better than 18th tomorrow so we’ll have to see what happens.”
With only hours to go until the season opener begins with Free Practise 1 & 2 at the Albert Park circuit, Kimi talks us through his first impressions of the E20 and the key technical changes in the sport since he last raced in 2009.
UPDATE! Here is the full clip from tonight:
GRANDPRIX20.COM 