Is Kimi Raikkonen down and out?

Kimi Raikkonen

Rewind to Melbourne at the Australian GP, Kimi Raikkonen couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2013 season after winning the first race in his true style.

Fast forward to 10 races in the season and he finds himself 4th in the Driver’s Championship. So went wrong for him in between? Has he lost yet another chance to win the Driver’s Championship? Can he bounce back to revive his diminishing chances? (Déjà vu for Kimi fans?) Here’s a look at the ‘Iceman’s’ hopes of revival.

Go Kimi!!

Kimi’s thought of sticking with Lotus had paid rich dividends in the very first race winning at Albert Park after he had qualified seventh while his rivals had a hard time struggling for grip. Malaysian GP though wasn’t the greatest of races for Kimi. He got a penalty for blocking Nico Rosberg in qualifying and started tenth on the grid and could manage only a seventh place.

The next three races had Kimi muscling his Lotus E21 not so much in qualifying but remarkably during the race. He had finished a strong second in China, Bahrain and Spain and Vettel was within a reachable distance on points.

In the next three races, however, Kimi had struggled to get the Lotus to finish in the top 5. His car again wasn’t the fastest in qualifying at Monaco, Canada and Great Britain. Though he finished a decent fifth at Silverstone but could manage only a tenth and ninth at Monaco and Canada respectively. Vettel had extended his lead and was beginning to pull away from the rest of the pack. Kimi slipped to third in the points table behind Fernando Alonso.

Europe has been a good hunting ground for Kimi in the past and he proved it by finishing second on the podium at Germany and Hungary. This again, after being out qualified by his rivals. He was behind Vettel again in points and very much a contender for the Driver’s trophy.

But Spa proved a disappointment. The qualifying again was a heart-breaker, but the race retirement was an even bitter experience for the Finnish driver and his team. There were reports that a vizer strip from another drivers helmet had got into the brakes of the E21 forcing Kimi to stall his car in the pits. It was a big blow to Kimi chances of giving Vettel a tough fight and pushing him down the order again into fourth on points.

The Root Cause

Analyzing Lotus’s performance and one thing that stands out is that they are definitely missing the pace in qualifying. While Red-Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari have all taken pole positions the Lotus has struggled and managed the best qualifying in China with a second on the grid. Their race strategies have been more or less on target but with five second place finishes you know you have a champion driver but not the fastest car.

Try switching Vettel and Kimi in their cars and you are bound to get the answer. Kimi has the uncanny knack of finishing consistently among the points and the remarkably brilliant skills of moving up the grid during the race. Clearly, the Enstone based team need to provide him the best possible car if he has to chase down Vettel and keep Alonso and Lewis Hamilton at bay.

Time is Running Out

With each passing race, Vettel has managed to inch towards his fourth Driver’s title. Going by last year’s performance the Lotus had struggled in the second-half of the season with just a single win at Abu Dhabi. Monza too hasn’t been the best races for Kimi having finished fifth last year and incidentally has never won a race in Italy.

The South-East Asian leg of the season has been a healthy hunting ground for the Red-Bull where Vettel had dominated last year winning all four races at Singapore,Japan, Korea and India which had helped him catch up Alonso and ultimately win the Championship. The US GP at Texas, just one race old has its own challenges and Brazil, the final race of the season, can be tricky for the best of the cars.

The Flying Red-Bull and Super Seb combo seems pretty much the favourite to get into the record books but if Kimi has to have a realistic chance of winning the World Driver’s Championship(WDC), the onus lies with Lotus. They need to pull a rabbit out of the bag to give Kimi the opportunity to turn things around by winning races.

The race and tyre strategy needs to critical. Who can forget 2007 win by just a single point. With Kimi around you are never short of surprises. All he needs is probably some luck going his way, may be getting hold of a good luck charm would help but a faster car is definitely a priority.