Raikkonen to get five-place penalty for qualifying

2012 Malaysian Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

Kimi Raikkonen is set to be demoted five places on the grid for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The Lotus driver has had to have a gearbox change, which will incur a five-place penalty.

Raikkonen’s gearbox overheated during the Australian Grand Prix after he went off the track, though he was able to finish the race.

The team initially believed the gearbox was fit enough to be used again over a race distance. However after inspecting the unit in Malaysia they concluded it was too much of a risk to try to finish another race with the gearbox.

2012 Malaysian Grand Prix


    Browse all 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix articles

    Image © Lotus F1 Team/LAT

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    49 comments on “Raikkonen to get five-place penalty for qualifying”

    1. Nevermind Kim, get all your bad luck out of the way early season! At least you don’t have something to smile about ;)

      1. If you look at the recent history of F1 (like, last 20 years), you’d be hard pressed to find a driver who had consistently more bad luck than Kimi did. Sadly I forgot the numbers but I once calculated how many points and wins he lost due to failing cars when he was in the lead or near the front but I remember it was a lot.
        Then in 2007 he had some good luck towards the end of the season to get the title he should have had on two occasions before.
        Nevertheless, I’m hoping for some good Kimi entertainment :-)

    2. Everything seems to be going Grosjean’s way at the moment.

      1. Just like in Melbourne, isn’t it!? But who scored?

      2. and Kimi finished ahead of his teammate cuz Grosjean got knocked out in Melbourne race. thats how things going his way??

      3. I meant this weekend. Finishing in front of his teammate in both practice sessions and now this.

      4. Grosjean is going to be the big surprise of this season.

        1. DING DING…I ring the bell of truth

        2. hmm i wasn’t so surprised. he won GP2 at a canter and renault always seem to start strongly.

      5. Brother Lehmann
        23rd March 2012, 19:53

        To be quite honest. Better to play safe on friday than retire on sunday.

    3. Well, I hope he qualifies well this weekend. The car has good quali and race pace. Good luck Kimi.

    4. Just the usual Kimi luck. See 2005. :D

      1. exactly, and those engine changes cost him 10 places

      2. Brother Lehmann
        23rd March 2012, 19:56

        So true. In Melbourne it was quite strange that Kobayashis rear wing was flapping like crazy but never came off. Strangely back in the days with Kimi all it needed was a straight line.

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhwPSAI-dOo

        1. I forgotten how sporting the fans are at hockenheim. I mean come on, it’s not like they are watching nascar :-(

    5. Makes for a very interesting race, they may attempt a different strategy with the tyres.

      With the addition of the unpredictable weather, it looks like this should be a cracker.

    6. Bad news. Kimi starting within row 2 and 3 would make it well more interesting. I hope he manages P3 in Q3.

    7. Perhaps the Voodoo priest that Massa will use from now on could do something for Kimi.

    8. Shame, but good thing is qualifying doesn’t really matter these days. With a fast car Kimi can improve his position quite much.

    9. Oh well, still feeling positive about Raikkonen’s chances in the race this weekend. He is a good overtaker, the Lotus is quick on the straights and Sepang is a circuit where grid position is not paramount. Hopeful he can finish in the top 6 still.

    10. As ever, you make your own luck… Whoever said “yeah, let’s hire this bozo” must have a good sense of humour.

      Maybe they should have hired Sutil… :P

      1. I cannot quite determine the extent to which you are not being serious. A gearbox change does not reflect in any way on Kimi’s driving.

        1. It’s broken because he went off in Melbourne.

          1. Dane DI Pierro
            23rd March 2012, 15:59

            you’d seriously pick Sutil over Raikkonen?

            1. If it was boxing..yeah , definitly Sutil, but it is F1…we need drivers here.

            2. I was kind of kidding about Sutil (and his relationship with certain Renault, sorry, Lotus employees)

          2. He went off to avoid crashing into someone…he went off only once…that was in the start when the cars spun…

        2. Adrian, I don’t agree with debaser at all, but the gearbox change was a direct result of Kimi’s driving as he went off the course and damaged it…

          1. Like Rahim.RG said, he had to avoid another car. That’s why he took the grass.

            1. Like I said before, you make your own luck…

            2. pSynrg, I’m failing to see how Kimi in any way shape or form made the people in front of him crash into each other leaving him the options of either running into them or taking to the grass. I further fail to see how he made the dirt and grass get into his car just right so it could damage his gearbox. I mean, that’s what you’re saying isn’t it? Kimi made the grass damage his car, because Vettel went off without any problems in that same corner.

              Unless you were trying to say that it was actually perhaps even more impressive of him to finish where he did with a damaged gearbox?

            3. OK, why was he in the position he was in order to fall “victim” to the misadventures of others? Oh yeah, he messed quali… You make your own luck by simply getting everything right.
              I’m not saying Kimi is on occasion not fast or – god forbid – exciting but he rarely has it all together. This is why his results are way off what everyone expects. His WDC as notable as it is, was won when other teams drivers were fighting each other. Only then did I see what everyone had been talking about. Shame he cannot sustain it. Totally overrated.

            4. Oh and it’s the team claiming the damage in Melbourne caused the gearbox to overheat.

    11. good news for Alonso if he will reach Q3

    12. Kimi’s starting to have Trulli-esque problems with his power steering as well. Shame. Was hoping to see what he can really achieve on his comeback when everything’s going right for him for once.

      1. Nah. Lotus F1’s James Allison has said that the press has made much more of it than it is. It’s just not quite as light as Kimi likes the steering to be. But, as far as I’ve been able to make out, he’s getting the feedback he wants so in that sense it doesn’t affect his driving which is what Kimi’s been repeating over and over again to the press.

      2. Totally different situations. Caterham’s power steering was probably very basic until Trulli got them to change it, he was much happier afterwards. In Kimi’s case the power steering is fine, he just wants to fine tune it to his liking and getting that sweet spot isn’t going to happen over night.

        I was never a fan of Trulli tbh, but I don’t think either situation is a cop-out.

    13. Doubt Kimi will be too disappointed by this. It’s hopefully just a one-off at that, and equally the number of places demoted is only half that which he had to take pretty much every race at times when he was at McLaren, particularly 2005 :P

      1. Brian @clustr1
        23rd March 2012, 17:39

        Yeah, I doubt he will be disappointed. In fact, I doubt he even knows what it is like to be disappointed! Never have I seen someone who accepts a situation and moves on more easily that Kimi. Truly the Iceman.

    14. I’m a big fan of Kimi, but I don’t think luck has anything to do with the situations he has been in so far this year. He admitted to making a mistake in qualy and then he drove off the road and damaged his gearbox…on the flip side, he managed to wring every drop out of his car in the race.

      In the past, I have always thought that luck had nothing to do with most of Kimi’s drives. He either had a crappy car that he was driving too hard to get results (i.e. Alsonso this year) or he was not paying attention and making mistakes.

      To me, bad luck is very rare on a race track and would be more of a situation like a spring coming off of Barichello’s car and hitting an oblivious Massa in the head. If you drive your car too hard and it breaks….that’s not bad luck.

      1. Good commemt mfDB.Lot of truth in that but,Kimi has not always been quite fortunate.He always bounces back though.He can use his speed to make up for lost track.There is something special about this guy.Unfortunately he doesn’t have the technical skills like Alonso or Schumacher to help build the car(tank?)he needs. I sure am glad he is back.With 6 World champions on the grid I am excited again!

        I’m back again!Hello Keith and old friends at f1fanatic!

    15. Kimster just can’t catch a break this season,hope he nails qualifying,and survives turn one and two.Will see tonight what will happen,can’t wait …..

    16. I’ve always wondered why the gearbox rule is like this, but with the engine rules you can switch them as much as you like as long as you don’t use too many. It’s potentially the same for everyone, but I don’t see the logic in stating they must be used consecutively. Can anyone shed any light?

      1. I’ve been wondering about the exact same thing since they changed the rules for the engine that you can change whenever you want as long as you only use a certain number during the season. Why didn’t they change the rules for the gearbox at the same time. It would have been the logical thing to do.

    17. Third time lucky for China, eh? ;)

    18. You cannot change engines as you like as long as you don’t use too many. The rules state
      ” If an engine is changed in accordance with Article 34.1 the engine which was replaced
      may not be used during any future qualifying session or race with the exception of the
      last Event of the Championship”
      It would be more helpful to not say anything if you don’t know or can’t be bothered to look up the relevant rule, instead of just speculating or spreading rumour, it’s just confusing to others.

      1. I am completly ignorant of the exact rules but does this not apply to when you have used your whole allocation or from fp3 onwards. I thought you could use any of your allocated engines and alternate between rounds, you just cannot change during the grand prix weekend from fp3 onwards or you will incur a penalty. If same applied for gearboxes then this would not be an issue.

    19. Unfortunate, but the Iceman won’t break for this. 5 more places to catch up ? Kimi can do it before turn 1, if he does not have to run into the grass because some rookies made a mess in front of him.

    Comments are closed.