Kimi’s return to F1

Prior to January 23rd 2012, the last time that Kimi Räikkönen turned the wheel of a Formula 1 car was at the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, in his last race for Ferrari and the 156th race start of his career.

After ten seasons, 18 Grands Prix wins, 16 pole positions and 62 appearances on the podium, Kimi decided it was time to try something entirely different; rallying.

During his second season in the World Rally Championship, rumours began to emerge that Kimi was seeking a return to Formula 1, with the Williams team linked with a move for the 2007 World Champion.

These rumours finally came to an end when Kimi signed his two year deal with Lotus F1 Team. He has since spent time settling into his new surroundings at Enstone, culminating in two days of private running to get him back into the groove of a Formula 1 car.

The challenge was to ensure that Kimi gained on-track experience ahead of the start of official testing. Formula 1 regulations meant that Kimi could not run last year’s car, so instead the team ran a two year old chassis which he drove during two days of running at the 4.005 km Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo.

Over the course of the two days he completed 191 laps, using seven sets of Pirelli demonstration tyres. He was quickly up to speed and utilised the time to familiarise himself with his new team, test procedures, and race procedures.

A combination of setup analysis runs, qualifying simulations, and heavy-fuel load stints gave Kimi a good idea of what he can expect going into the 2012 season. The feedback from the team on their first experience with him was all very positive, and inspires a lot of confidence heading into the first official pre-season test in Jerez.

"It’s nice to get back into a Formula 1 car. It didn’t take long to get used to driving again, I had no trouble feeling where to turn, accelerate and brake, but obviously adjusting to the new car and tyres will take slightly longer. It’s not like when I went from Formula 1 to rallying before, that’s a totally different sport. The conditions and style are completely the opposite to rallying; the only similarity is that you’re driving a car!"

Kimi’s F1 Return Timeline
1 November 2009 Contests the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – his 156th race start.
Pre-season 2010 Linked to a McLaren race seat before the team signs Jenson Button.
2009 – 2010 Contests the World Rally Championship.
September 2011 Linked with a return to Formula 1 with the Williams Team.
29 November 2011 Announced as a driver for Lotus F1 Team.
5 January 2012 Seat fitting at Enstone.
24 January 2012 Completes two days of running in a 2010 car at Valencia.
26 January 2012 Press conference in Zurich.
7 February 2012 Starts test programme.
18 March 2012 Australian Grand Prix – first race back.

KIMI’S WHEELS

For his re-acquaintance with an F1 car Kimi used a Renault R30, chassis number 3, as used during 2010 pre-season testing by Vitaly Petrov and Robert Kubica. The car was subsequently raced by Robert from the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix until round thirteen, the Belgian Grand Prix. The R30-03 was also used for the end of season young driver test.

Simon Rennie: Kimi’s Valencia Run - An Engineer’s perspective

What are your impressions of Kimi after the two-day test in Valencia?

It went very well. He’s a fantastic driver with a proven track record and a lot of experience so it was no surprise to see him on the pace straight away. Having said that, we were all impressed with how quickly he got up to speed in the car; his first run produced a lap that was only a few tenths away from his best lap of the day which was incredible to say the least. On the second day he was even quicker, so it was all very positive.

What was Kimi like away from the technical side? How did his relationship with the team evolve over the course of the two days?

He is very easy to work with; extremely professional and focused. But on top of that, he’s extremely laid back and we had some good banter with him while he was with us which is important as it builds a good relationship with the guys. There were four engineers as well as myself working with Kimi and he made a real effort to keep each of us updated on what he liked and didn’t like about the way the car felt. Again, this is really useful for us, as it helps us to get the car working in a way that suits him best, which ultimately will of course lead to him feeling comfortable and producing his quickest lap times.

We heard Kimi commenting that he felt an unexpected difference in the brake balance of the car at one stage; what happened there?

This really showed us something about Kimi. Overnight the brake balance was shifted slightly rearwards to help lock up the rear wheels during a bite point learn, and when Kimi returned to the car for his install lap the next day he instantly noticed the difference and exactly what had caused it. To have been out of a Formula 1 car for two years and still pick up on these subtle differences so quickly really demonstrates how sharp he is as a driver.