A good Friday for Maldonado and Lotus in Austria

The Lotus F1 team completed a rather standard program today for the first day of testing at the Austrian Grand Prix of Formula 1. Maldonado and Palmer carried out aerodynamic and setup tests, including stints with fuel for brake evaluations during the first session. In the afternoon, Grosjean and Maldonado tested the tires supplied by Pirelli – the soft and super-soft compounds.

Jolyon Palmer was delighted to be able to drive the E23 again. Even if everything wasn’t perfect, he had a good FP1 session – finishing 14th – at the Red Bull Ring: « It was a good session. There were no major problems, but I had to stop earlier than planned because I had a flat spot on my front tires, which was a shame. It’s a nice track to drive an F1; it’s a fairly short lap but there’s a lot to do and I was able to push. »

With the handicap of not driving during FP1, Romain Grosjean struggled to perfectly set up his Lotus during FP2 – which he finished in 7th place nonetheless, but the Frenchman is confident for the rest of the weekend: “The car seemed good, but we still have work to do before the race and qualifying. The balance was not as I wanted for my fastest lap on the super-softs, so we have progress to make for qualifying.”

Pastor Maldonado started off wisely, finishing 12th in FP1 before securing a strong 4th place in FP2, ahead of Hamilton notably. The Venezuelan is pleased with his Friday, which didn’t produce any issues to resolve, allowing him to work well during these sessions: « I had a positive day and it was nice to drive the E23 on this track. The day was quite straightforward actually. We didn’t have any problems so we were able to complete our program and progress. I think there’s still potential to extract better pace from the car. »