Lotus: Grosjean Concludes His Weekend in a Beautiful Way
Romain Grosjean finished in seventh place for the second consecutive time. The Frenchman is pleased with the six points earned. Pastor Maldonado had the pace to achieve a similar result, but a problem in the pits decided otherwise.
Two retirements in the first two races, then two Sundays finished in seventh place: Romain Grosjean’s weekends seem to come in pairs. The Frenchman struggled all weekend, so he can be satisfied with a good seventh place: « It was a tough weekend for me, so it was really great to secure another solid seventh place. »
The Lotus driver admits to having encountered problems with his Pirelli tires: « Tire management was really difficult, especially with the rear tires, so I think we did a good job making the two-stop strategy work. We only had unused medium tires for the race, the rest were shot, so it was really good work from the team. »
Although starting from 16th place and after receiving a five-second penalty for being improperly positioned on the starting grid, Pastor Maldonado experienced a disastrous second pit-stop: « It was a frustrating race for me. Unfortunately, the engine’s backup system kicked in when I came in for my last pit stop, and it cost me a lot of time. We should have finished strong, so it’s frustrating. »
The pace of the Venezuelan was nevertheless satisfactory, which bodes well for good performances on the Barcelona track, a circuit he particularly favors, having won there in 2012 with Williams.
