New Lotus Formula One driver and 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen believes that he will be able to challenge for "good results" in the new E20 car, after the team launched their 2012 challenger on Sunday.
Raikkonen is making a return to the F1 grid for the 2012 season with Lotus after two years on the sidelines when he lost his drive with Ferrari at the end of 2009.In their former guise as Renault, the team struggled throughout 2011 despite two early podiums, and ended the year a disappointing fifth in the constructors championship.
As a team, they are without a win since Fernando Alonso took his Renault to victory at the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix, but Raikkonen believes that the team can turn around their recent lacklustre form.
"I think these people know how to build a good car, and even the biggest teams cannot produce a winning car every year," the Finn shrugged after taking the sheets off the new E20.
"They are very capable people and they have a good feeling about things and they're pushing hard so hopefully we will get good results."
Raikkonen added that after two years away, he was looking forward to getting back into the groove in Formula One.
"I'm happy to be back, so that's the main thing," he grinned, "It will be something slightly different than it used to be than when I used to be in Formula One with a different team...different regulations."
He returned to action last month with a two day test in a 2010 Renault to reacclimatise himself to driving an F1 car, and he said that he had felt good early on in that test.
"If you have a good car it makes your life easier than if you have an average car. I was pretty happy after the first test we did two weeks ago. It felt pretty normal already," he smiled.
"I think it will be okay but before the first race it's really difficult to say still. We'll wait and see but I'm happy with how everything is going."
Raikkonen will be partnered with 2011 GP2 Series champion Romain Grosjean at the team next year, with the French driver saying that he was "proud" to be part of the Enstone squad.
"2011 was a fantastic season for myself with the GP2 title and the Friday morning [practice cameos] in the car and all the time at the track with the team as the third driver," he rambled excitedly.
"I'm feeling quite good for the season. I'm very proud to be chosen as one of the drivers."
He went on: "So far I've a little bit more knowledge about the Pirelli tyres but I think I will be able to get a lot from him. We need to work to bring the team as far forward as possible, which is our main goal. I'm very happy to be alongside him.
"We are all expecting a lot from this year. I've seen the car almost from the beginning to the end of the building, and we're all expectant to see the car on track and after the first four days of testing we will have a good idea of how the season will be."
Raikkonen will debut the new car on track on Tuesday at the first pre-season test at Jerez, with the Finn driving the first two days in the car before handing over to Grosjean.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
