Friday: Lotus back in the game despite KERS issues
The Lotus program was disrupted by KERS issues on Kimi Räikkönen's car during FP2, which forced the Finn to play the spectator for most of the afternoon. Iceman can find solace in watching the encouraging performances of Romain Grosjean, which shows that the Lotus E20 seems more competitive than in recent races.
Kimi Räikkönen – 13th and 14th:
« We didn’t do much driving because of an issue with the KERS, but at least it happened today and we resolved it. It wasn’t ideal for helping us find the right settings, but there’s nothing we can do. Suzuka isn’t the easiest place to set up the car, but we still have tomorrow’s practice before the qualification. I think we have the potential to be closer to the front than we have been in the last races. »
Romain Grosjean – 14th and 6th:
« It’s not a bad day overall. The car behaved much better in the afternoon than this morning. We’re not quite where we want to be yet, but the team has worked hard and hopefully, we will make similar progress tomorrow. Suzuka is not an easy track, tire wear is really important, but the car seems consistent with both compounds which is positive. It’s hard to say if 6th is the kind of position we will have in qualifying, there are still a few tenths we can find, so let’s wait and see what happens tomorrow.
