This weekend was a very successful one for the Lotus->ke49 Racing Team, as Kimi Räikkönen scored the first victory for the team during the first round of the FIA 2013 World Championship Formula One race in Melbourne, Australia.

According to Lotus officials, Kimi needed to face both the rain and a critical tire strategy. Still, he managed to preserve tire condition, pitting only twice over the 58-lap Albert Park course. What’s more, the fastest lap of the race was his at 1:29.274. This race was the 20th race for Räikkönen and the 81st for the Lotus team.

The race had seven different leaders, but Raikkonen held the lead on 43 of the 58 laps of the race. Fernando Alonso of Ferrari was second and Sebastian Vettel from Red Bull was the third on the finish line.

Next weekend the team will have to face another challenge: the second round of the competition taking place at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia.

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