Saturday: Problems in the Rain for Lotus
The Lotus cars, performing well on dry surfaces, struggled significantly in the rain. Romain Grosjean, already hit with a penalty, failed to get past Q2, while Kimi Räikkönen could do no better than 10th and last in Q3. The British team is therefore hoping for a dry race.
Kimi Räikkönen – 4th and 10th:
« We weren’t fast on the wet today for some reason and we need to look into why. I couldn’t use the grip of the tires, even when we put on a new set of wet tires halfway through Q3. In the dry, the car is very good and in the race, we usually have a good pace. Let’s hope for dry weather tomorrow and see what happens.
Romain Grosjean – 11th and 15th [19th on the grid after a penalty]:
The rain seemed to come at the wrong time for me; it was always at its heaviest when I tried to make a quick lap. It was undoubtedly complicated to find enough grip on the track and not be hindered by the other cars. It’s hard to understand why I was so far from Kimi in qualifications when I’ve been very close to him the rest of the weekend. I have everything to do tomorrow and I will work hard with the engineers to ensure that we have the best car and the best strategy to gain a few points.
