The Lotus F1 Team delivered on their promise from pre-season testing to turn the tables on some disappointing early races to gain a fantastic double podium. Promoting the team to third place in the constructors championship.

Both Räikkönen and Grosjean gained places off the grid having started 11th and 7th respectively, and Grosjean took advantage of the DRS zones to make his way up to 2nd place in the early stages. Meanwhile Räikkönen put in a series of impressive overtaking maneuvers and made the most of the extra new sets of soft tyres he’d saved in qualifying to gain on his French team-mate and ultimately overtake him in to Turn 1 just ahead of his 2nd pit stop.

As they approached the third and final stops Räikkönen looked like being a serious contender for the race victory, closing to within 1 second of Vettel, but couldn’t match the Germans place after the final stop as the cars switched to the harder tyre compound and settled in to 2nd place a few seconds back.

The race finished in the order they went in to their final stops, with Räikkönen giving the Lotus F1 Team their first podium of the year and the first of his comeback, along with the first podium of Grosjeans career.

Discussion: Chapman Arms – Today’s F1

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