F1 2013 - Mid-Season Report

Lotus-Renault (183 Points)

Overall, it has been another great season for Lotus. While only having a small budget in comparison to the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari they have look very promising over the 1st ten races. One weakness is the dramatic drop in pace on some circuits, something that needs to be rectified. Despite losing technical director James Allison to Ferrari, Lotus have done better this season in developing the car to remain a front row contender. The coming races are critical to the chances of Lotus and Raikkonen in the Drivers championship.

Kimi Raikkonen €“ 8 (134 Points)

Captain consistent. Raikkonen has broken Schumacher€™s old record of consecutive scoring finishes and has finished on the podium six times with five of those finishing 2nd. And while has admitted that these 2nd places won€™t be enough to win him the title; he has shown that none of the pace has gone since his comeback. A brilliant victory in the opening race of the season has sadly not been backed up anywhere else, with the pace of Lotus seemingly disappearing on occasion. Lotus need to keep up with the bigger teams in upgrading the car sufficiently in order for Kimi to challenge and with promising performances in both Germany and Hungary, there are signs of optimism leading into the 2nd half of the year. A couple of poor performances in Monaco and Montreal have affected his score, but if Lotus can keep up in the development race, Kimi has a big chance being in the fight come the end of the season.

Roman Grosjean €“ 6 (49 Points)

It really has been a very tough season for Grosjean so far, with the Frenchman struggling to keep up with team mate Raikkonen and with very little to show from the season Grosjean has looked in very bad shape. Up until the German Grand Prix there really wasn€™t anything for Grosjean to write home about, his confidence seemed to be shattered by the endless torrent of criticism that he received for the numerous incidents he has been involved with. However, the last two races have proved that Grosjean has a lot of talent and Lotus have been right in sticking by him. A brilliant podium at the German Grand Prix was followed by a 3rd position in qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Sadly, penalties dented his race and he came home in 6th. The confidence gained from the last two Grand Prix will be priceless to Grosjean and he will be hoping to have a much stronger 2nd half of the season. Raikkonen needs him too.