Sunday: Lotus F1 tries to maintain a positive attitude
As expected, Lotus put on a poor show at Monza during the Italian Grand Prix. However, there are still two reasons to rejoice for the Enstone team: the "victory" against Sauber, and the reliability of the car.
Pastor Maldonado (No. 13) – 14th
The Venezuelan driver finished ahead of Adrian Sutil’s Sauber. Of course, even though this performance was quite unexpected, there’s no reason to rejoice, but Maldonado got the most out of his car this Sunday: I had a good start and completed a solid first lap, which put me in a better position than on the grid as I was able to overtake the Saubers. I tried to attack the Toro Rossos in front of me, but their straight-line setup was too extreme to overtake them. So, we ended up maintaining a constant pace without fear of the cars behind us, but also because we didn’t have the pace to attack the cars in front.
Romain Grosjean (No. 8) – 16th
The Frenchman spent his race far behind his teammate, battling rather with Jules Bianchi or Esteban Gutierrez. It’s a weekend that Romain Grosjean will undoubtedly want to forget quickly: « I had a horrible start and was last at the first corner. I was on hard tires for the first stint, so I had trouble coming back. I’m not sure what happened with Esteban. He overtook me, but then when braking, he went in front of me… I really don’t think the upcoming races will be as difficult for us ».
