Kimi Raikkonen hopes Lotus can build on their Formula 1 victory in Melbourne by impressing again in the hot and humid conditions at the Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend.
Kimi Raikkonen only won one race in 2012.The Finn is 11/4 to make it two victories in a row on Sunday and is 9/2 to be the fastest qualifier for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Last year Lotus performed best when the conditions were hot, but Raikkonen is adamant that the team will not be making any changes to their usual race weekend routine.
He said: “There’s no target or anything, we don’t do any different things this weekend than we did in any previous race or last year.
“If people think we are the kind of leaders it makes no difference to our work, what we did or what we’re going to do this weekend or any other weekend. We just try to do our best and hopefully can score some good points.
“Last year we were pretty good when it was hot and actually it was better for us but obviously we haven’t run in these kind of conditions and the winter has been very cold so I have no idea. If it’s anything like it was last year it should be pretty OK but we have to wait and see how it goes.”
Raikkonen, 4/1 to win the 2013 drivers’ title, finished third in last year’s championship despite only emerging triumphant in one race – the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The 33-year-old, who won the drivers’ title when with Ferrari in 2007, did also enjoy a podium finish on six other occasions in 2012 though.
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We need to improve the car, we could see today the pace was not there.