Raikkonen makes biggest gain so far as McLaren slump

By Keith Collantine | RaceFansApr 30, 2013, 12:00 PM EDT
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Kimi Raikkonen has made the biggest gain in his points tally over the first four races compared to the same period last year.

The Lotus driver, who won the season-opening race in Melbourne, is second in the drivers’ championship with 33 points more than he had this time last year.

Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel are the only other drivers to have posted double-digit gains in their points tallies so far.

Fernando Alonso’s retirement in Malaysia and DRS problems in Bahrain mean he has added just four points over his 2012 total at this point, despite the disadvantage had in these races last year with a less competitive car.

In the constructors’ championship, McLaren’s difficulties with their MP4-28 has wiped 69 points off their points tally compared with this time last year, at which time they were second in the standings.

Sauber are also enduring a difficult start to the season off the back of a strong 2012.

See how all the drivers and teams compared against their 2012 performance after four races in these tables:

Drivers’ championship points

Pos. Driver Points vs. 2012
1 Sebastian Vettel 77 +24
2 Kimi Raikkonen 67 +33
3 Lewis Hamilton 50 +1
4 Fernando Alonso 47 +4
5 Mark Webber 32 -16
6 Felipe Massa 30 +28
7 Romain Grosjean 26 +3
8 Paul di Resta 20 +5
9 Nico Rosberg 14 -21
10 Jenson Button 13 -30
11 Sergio Perez 10 -12
12 Adrian Sutil 6 n/a
13 Daniel Ricciardo 6 +4
14 Nico Hulkenberg 5 +3
15 Jean-Eric Vergne 1 -3
16 Valtteri Bottas 0 n/a
17 Pastor Maldonado 0 -4
18 Esteban Gutierrez 0 n/a
19 Jules Bianchi 0 n/a
20 Charles Pic 0 n/a
21 Giedo van der Garde 0 n/a
22 Max Chilton 0 n/a

Constructors’ championship points

Pos. Team Points vs. 2012
1 Red Bull 109 +8
2 Lotus 93 +36
3 Ferrari 77 +32
4 Mercedes 64 +27
5 Force India 26 +9
6 McLaren 23 -69
7 Toro Rosso 7 +1
8 Sauber 5 -26
9 Williams 0 -18
10 Marussia 0 0
11 Caterham 0 0

Danica says goodbye: ‘Definitely not a great ending’ but ‘I’m for sure grateful’

By Nate RyanMay 27, 2018, 4:53 PM EDT
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INDIANAPOLIS – Danica Patrick’s final racing news conference didn’t but at least she didn’t lose her sense of humor about it.

“Is that like the Oscars when they close the show out?” Patrick joked when her opening address was drowned out by the midrace broadcast of Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 in the media center. “Take my mic away. I’ll leave. I promise. I don’t really want to be here because I’m pretty sad, but all right. I guess I’ll stop there.”

That was about as lighthearted as it got, though, for the most accomplished female driver in racing history after the final start of her career. That naturally made for some reflection, too.

“I will say that I’m for sure very grateful for everybody,” she said. “It still was a lot of great moments this month. A lot of great moments this year.”

Patrick was the first woman to lead both the Indianapolis 500 (in her 2005 debut) and the Daytona 500 (in 2013 when she also was the first female to qualify on pole position in NACAR history).

But she couldn’t bookend that with similarly memorable finishes. After crashing out of her final two Cup races in the November 2017 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and the 2018 Daytona 500, Indy concluded the same way.

“Definitely not a great ending,” she said. “But I kind of said before I came here that it could be a complete disaster, as in not in the ballpark at all. And look silly, then people may remember that. And if I win, people will remember that.

“Probably anything in between might just be a little part of the big story. So I kind of feel like that’s how it is. I’m appreciative for all the fans, for GoDaddy, for Ed Carpenter Racing, for IndyCar. Today was a tough day. A little bit of it was OK. A lot of it was just a typical drive.”

Beforehand, Patrick seemed relaxed while smiling and laughing outside her car with a tight circle of close friends and family that included her parents and boyfriend Aaron Rodgers, the Green Bay Packers quarterback.

“For sure, I was definitely nervous,” she said about her first Indy 500 start in seven years. “I found myself most of the time on the grid being confused what part of prerace we were in. I was like, ‘I remember this,’ and ‘Where are the Taps?’ and ‘When is the anthem?’ but I had all my people around me, so I was in good spirits.”

And with that, she bid adieu.

“Thank you guys,” she said. “Thank you for everything. I’ll miss you. Most of the time. Maybe you’ll miss me just a little. Thanks, guys.”