• Hungarian Grand Prix
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Lotus closing in on win - Raikkonen

ESPN Staff
July 29, 2012 « Schumacher switched off engine | Grosjean blames backmarkers for losing second »
Kimi Raikkonen closed in on Lewis Hamilton but could not pass the McLaren © Sutton Images
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Kimi Raikkonen is confident Lotus will keep pushing for victory after he just missed out to Lewis Hamilton at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Raikkonen was roughly a second behind Hamilton for the final 17 laps of the race, but couldn't find a way past on the tight and twisty Hungaroring circuit. It was his third second place finish of the season and Raikkonen is confident his first win with Lotus will come soon.

"It's a shame we couldn't quite get the win but it's a good result for the team and we'll keep pushing to make that final step," he said. "My start was not too bad but then we had some issues with the KERS and I lost a place to Fernando [Alonso]. When we got it working again we were stuck in the pack so it was a bit frustrating, but once we were in clear air we could push and it looked like we could make up a few places in the second stops. The team said it would be very close with Romain [Grosjean coming out of the pits at the final stop], but it was okay in the end. We managed to catch Lewis but it was impossible to pass."

Team principal Eric Boullier said he felt the car had the pace to win races now.

"Our new approach to qualifying is delivering. We qualified better this weekend and we chased the leader of the race for many laps. On a different track layout which allows overtaking I think we could have won this race."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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