A week on from Melbourne and a similar story for Lotus in the second race of season at the Malaysian Sepang circuit.
After a fantastic start, which saw him leave Turn 2 in 3rd place after starting 6th, Romain Grosjean unfortunately retired early on after a spin at Turn 4 when he made contact with Michael Schumacher then beaching his car in the gravel as the weather worsened.
Räikkönen started 10th after a 5 place grid penalty for a gearbox change and drove a solid and consistent race with particularly good pace in the wet conditions which saw him set a number of fastest laps and saw him battle with the Red Bull of Mark Webber, but lost the pace as the track dried and ended the race trailing the Australian in 5th.
The result sees Lotus F1 sitting 5th in the Constructors championship, with Räikkönen 7th in the drivers standing having scored all of the teams 16 points thus far. The team also should win a special PR prize for supplying the media with ‘Sepang Sundae’ Magnum Ice Creams courtesy of Kimi Räikkönen…
Discussion: SELOC Chat – Malaysian GP 2012 – Race