Grosjean is eager to throw the Lotus E22 “in the trash”

The first free practice sessions of the United States Grand Prix were an opportunity for Lotus to test an experimental nose in view of 2015. This front, modeled on the solutions adopted by Mercedes and Ferrari, was tested by Romain Grosjean for about an hour.

The Franco-Swiss comes out of this test with a rather positive feeling: « It was quite interesting: more consistent in some corners, a bit more challenging in others. We were supposed to do one stint with it, I did two because I thought it was interesting […] to see where it would take us. »

« We knew the performance would be worse than with the [conventional] E22, but what we really wanted to see was if it reacted as we thought, if the vortex and the whole technical aspect were in place. I think the CFD [computational fluid dynamics, editor’s note], the wind tunnel, and my comments go in the same direction, which is quite positive. We didn’t continue because it’s not made for this car, but the problems we encountered with this nose on this car were the ones we expected. »

The development of the Lotus E22 was stopped very early in the season. Despite this, the Frenchman knows that his team will have to catch up on the delay it will have compared to other teams regarding this nose configuration: “I think it works well, but we are starting from far behind,” he admits to Autosport. “If you look at Mercedes and Ferrari, they already have the low nose. It will certainly be better next year. The [Mercedes] engine will help, and I’m sure there are other areas we can improve.”

In conclusion, Romain Grosjean, while stating that he is not sad to find the two-horned nose again, is not gentle with his single-seater: Only three more races with this car and then we throw it in the trash! I’m sorry, but it’s certainly not a car I would keep in my living room.