Romain Grosjean finished sixth and Kimi Raikkonen seventh in todays Malaysian Grand Prix from the Sepang International Circuit. A wet but rapidly drying track saw all competitors start on Pirellis intermediate tyres, with both Romain and Kimi moving to medium then hard compound dry tyres as the race progressed. Kimi keeps up his run of consecutive points finishes but falls to second in the Drivers Championship, behind todays race winner Sebastian Vettel. The team maintains second position in the Cosntructors Championship, with third placed Ferrari on an equal 40 points.Kimi and Romain both started on new intermediate wet tyres.Kimi pitted for new medium tyres on lap 6, scrubbed mediums on lap 19 then new hard tyres on lap 34.Romain pitted for new medium tyres on laps 7 and 20 then new hard tyres on lap 35.
Kimi Rikknen, P7, E21-03Although the car felt very good on Friday, yesterday and today have been pretty difficult. Since Saturday morning it has not been behaving as we expected for some reason, especially in the wet where we really struggled for grip. It was a tough race and I lost part of my front wing at the start which didnt help, but at least we scored a few points which is better than coming away with nothing. If we can get the car back to how it was in Australia then Im sure well be at the front again.
Romain Grosjean, P6, E21-01I think we can be quite happy with the result today. It was a tough race, starting wet and finishing dry, but thats what you expect in Malaysia. I spent a lot of time stuck behind Felipe [Massa] in the middle phase of the race and Im sure if I could have passed him earlier then I would have stayed ahead, but by the end my tyres were finished so it was best just to let him through. Its not the result we would have wanted at the beginning of the weekend, but at the end of the day its more points for the team and well try to come back stronger in Shanghai.
Eric Boullier, Team Principal"Its not been the best day for us, but when you take into account our qualifying positions and the difficult start for both drivers I think the points we take for sixth and seventh is a solid result. Unfortunately with the conditions today we didnt see the full potential of the car, and the time we lost at the start was always going to be difficult to catch up. To finish within a reasonable distance of the leaders was a good effort from both drivers and also the team in terms of our strategy. With a normal weekend Im sure we can expect some stronger results.
James Allison, Technical Director This weekend feels like a case of what might have been. We had a car on Friday which looked extremely promising, but unfortunately that didnt translate into the sort of result wed expect. Qualifying tenth and eleventhparticularly in the wetwas not an ideal start, with the consequence that within seven laps we were around thirty seconds from the front. Our progress thereafter was actually quite respectable so its frustrating to have lost touch with the race at such an early stage, but Im confident well be delivering some stronger results in the coming races.
Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team Support LeaderA double points finish today for the team after some good racing. Sepang is a hard challenge for the engines with high top speeds needed for the straights and low speed driveability for the hairpin turns, plus managing the fuel consumption is tricky considering the changeable weather. We moved to a second engine this weekend to give more flexibility later in the seasonlooking at how tight things are at the front having this margin could be useful later on.
