Friday Report: Team Lotus – More Reliability Issues

If Jarno Trulli had a relatively quiet day, it was not the same for Heikki Kovalainen. Deprived of running in the morning to make way for Davide Valsecchi, the Finnish driver quickly saw his only free practice session – in the afternoon – cut short, after 4 laps. As in Australia, Team Lotus is hoping for better days, starting with tomorrow, Saturday.

Jarno Trulli – 16th and 20th

We managed to complete most of the program, but the fact that traffic ruined my fastest lap, I think, obscured the fact that we are on the right pace.

It’s a bit difficult because we’ve had to work a lot for the race here, and the support we’ve received from the fans and the media in Malaysia has been simply fantastic, so we’re going to work hard to make sure we showcase our potential tomorrow and Sunday.

Davide Valsecchi – 21st (in Free Practice 1)

« It was really great and such a feeling to be in the car here in Malaysia. My lap times weren’t great because I had some issues on my last stint, so I didn’t get the chance to try the car with a different tire setup, which would have allowed me to set better lap times.

It’s hot and a bit humid, which never makes things easy, but the track was very good. The car was really good, but with the little time I had, it was important to take it easy, not to push the car to the limit […] so let’s hope for a good race this weekend.

Heikki Kovalainen – 23rd (in Free Practice 2)

« It was just one of those days. I went out in the second session and felt something at the back, so I immediately returned to the pits. It seems to be a differential problem, and although the guys worked very hard to try to get me back out, we ran out of time. However, we’ll work on it tonight as well as on the data that Davide and Jarno collected today and get back to it tomorrow.

Tony Fernandes

The day started very well, with the announcement from Dell that it has decided to review its involvement by becoming an official technical partner. When a company like Dell wants to increase its partnership with us, it’s a clear sign that we are heading in the right direction.

On the track, fortunes were mixed. Everything started well but ended somewhat average, even though there are still many positive points that emerged today. If Jarno hadn’t encountered traffic issues, we would have been much closer to being able to show our true pace than we were in Melbourne, and even if we continue to be plagued by reliability issues, we are excited about this race and what will happen in tomorrow’s qualifying.