Jackie Stewart: It's brilliant to see Kimi and Lotus flower 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen celebrates his podium finish in Bahrain SECOND COMING ... 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen celebrates his podium finish in Bahrain By JIM MUNRO Published: 23rd April 2012 SIR JACKIE STEWART says Kimi Raikkonen has proved he can battle with the best again in Formula One. comment on this story 3 comments
Raikkonen sealed a second-place finish behind Sebastian Vettel in the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.
He was joined on the podium by Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean, who grabbed third.
Three-time world champion Stewart was in Bahrain as a brand ambassador for Lotus team owners Genii.
And he celebrated as the Enstone-based team enjoyed its first podium double since the 1979 Spanish Grand Prix.
Stewart said: "It’s a genuinely great performance by a very good team of people who have come together so well.
“It’s not been easy to take over a team, to get them to gel and get them all to come together.
“But it was a great performance, and I’m sure everybody back at Enstone must be out of their mind with joy."
Praising the 2007 world champion, Stewart said: “Kimi’s performance, in particular, after so many people had doubted whether he could come back and be successful, was amazing.
“Most people thought he wouldn’t have the fitness to do a whole race.
"A lot of people were making those kind of comments.
"So to come back and answer them like he did, and in only his fourth race — and he could have won it, it was that close at one point.
“As for Grosjean, in his first full proper season, it was a very mature drive.
"He didn’t make any mistakes, stayed out of trouble. So I’m thrilled for the whole team, and the other side is that Colin Chapman [the Lotus founder who died in 1982] must be pretty pleased up there looking down.
“They’ve hardly had any success since the team broke up, so it’s great. Fantastic.”
Team principal Eric Boullier added: “I am very happy for the team because they have worked very hard.
“After the frustration we’ve experienced at the start of the season it has finally paid off.
“Now there’s a sort of relief because I’m happy to prove we can do it. To be on the podium with both cars shows we can play for the big points now.”
He wasn't about to predict any big race wins for now though.
Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen, left, and Romain Grosjean, right, with playful Bahrain winner Sebastian Vettel DOUBLE TOP ... Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen, left, and Romain Grosjean, right, with playful Bahrain winner Sebastian Vettel
Boullier added: “I don’t know if the potential is there because it’s very tight this year.
“We will see, we will take it as it comes, and I don’t want to be more ambitious than we should be.
“But it’s good to be fighting for the podiums and the points, and if we have an opportunity to win, then of course we will grab it.”
"As to whether we can challenge through the season, I think we will. Nobody is dominating.
“That means it’s open at every race, so I hope we can put ourselves in a position to challenge in every race.”
Q: Do you have any special rituals when the helmet is concerned like many other drivers have? KR: I wipe it, so that I can see well
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Formel 1 - Grosjean: Kimi is faster than you Anscheinend doch Teamorder von Marion Rott Laut Medienberichten soll Romain Grosjean von seinem Team in Bahrain doch den Hinweis erhalten haben, Kimi Räikkönen nicht zu behindern und Platz zu machen.
Motorsport-Magazin.com - Der Bahrain-GP stand im Zeichen von Lotus, die den zweiten und dritten Platz im Rennen belegten. Danach gab es Meinungen, wäre Kimi Räikkönen früher an Romain Grosjean vorbeigekommen, hätte er das Rennen sogar gewinnen können. Doch Lotus erklärte, keine Teamorder gewollt zu haben.
0394783.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)
Nun behauptet der finnische Sender MTV3, dass genau das doch passiert sein soll. "Kimi is faster than you", soll es über Funk in Richtung Grosjean geheißen haben. "Halte ihn nicht auf." Diese Worte klingen den meisten Formel-1-Fans noch aus Hockenheim 2010 im Ohr, als Felipe Massa ebenfalls den dezenten Hinweis bekam, sein Teamkollege Fernando Alonso sei schneller unterwegs.
Heute ist Teamorder in der Formel 1 aber wieder erlaubt, weshalb Lotus im Zweifelsfalle keine Strafe zu erwarten hat, wie sie Ferrari seinerzeit bezahlen musste. Dennoch bestritt Lotus-Teamchef Eric Boullier nach dem Rennen im Wüstenstaat ein Eingreifen seitens des Teams. "Wir wollten keine Teamorder", so Boullier. "Daher lassen wir sie normal Rennen fahren und was passiert, passiert."
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