Sunday: Another Grueling Race for Lotus F1
The bad series of results continues for the Enstone team: Romain Grosjean retired on the 26th lap of this German Formula 1 Grand Prix, while Pastor Maldonado had to settle for a modest 12th place.
Romain Grosjean (No. 8) – Retirement (engine)
Author of a bold strategy and a long first stint (pit stop made only on the 25th lap), the Frenchman struggled to put his car in the best position: « We didn’t have an easy start with the soft tires and I found it difficult to get them up to temperature after the safety car intervention ».
Unfortunately, his second stint was cut short with a retirement on the 26th lap. « I was a victim of a loss of power due to a problem with our cooling system, so I was asked to pull over and turn off the car. » This retirement is already the 4th of his season, each time caused by a mechanical problem on the E22. « It’s really a shame because we were on a different strategy from our rivals and were on the right track to score points. »
Pastor Maldonado (No. 13) – 12th
Confirmed in the Lotus seat for 2015, the Venezuelan wasn’t really able to celebrate this renewal as he should have, finishing in the midfield pack: « It was a tricky start to the race: the first-lap incident was quite hard to avoid, but after that, our pace seemed solid. I did my best to manage tire degradation, and so we were able to make just two stops. »
However, the initial program seemed different for the driver of car number 13, who is satisfied with the change made during the race, despite his final result. « The base plan was to make three stops, but we had a competitive first stint, so we switched to plan B, which worked relatively well for us today. »
