Romain Grosjean still carries Lotus single-handedly in qualifying
If the team still exists next season, Lotus might quickly regret letting Romain Grosjean go. The French driver has gotten the most out of a car that is no longer being developed and will start from 8th place tomorrow at Suzuka. It's the thirteenth time in fourteen sessions that he has outperformed Pastor Maldonado on a Saturday.
The Franco-Swiss driver has once again beaten Pastor Maldonado in qualifying this season. Of all the drivers in the paddock, he is the one who dominates his teammate the most. The famous Suzuka circuit, which he particularly enjoys, allowed him to get the maximum out of a Lotus struggling for developments. The English team is, moreover, in a truly critical situation this weekend, to the extent that Bernie Ecclestone himself had to feed the mechanics on Friday.
Outpaced by Daniel Ricciardo, but ahead of the two Force India cars, Romain Grosjean will aim for points in the race: « I didn’t expect to make it into Q3. We thought we were half a second too slow for that, so it was really a great job by everyone! I had a very good lap in Q3. I couldn’t complete my second run, but the important thing is that Daniil is okay and has gotten out of the car. Regarding the race, we will definitely aim to maintain our position and score some points. »
Pastor Maldonado was more than two and a half tenths off his teammate in Q2 and will start 12th tomorrow (Daniil Kvyat, who qualified 10th, will indeed have to start from the pits after his accident): « I was hoping to get into Q3 and even though we were close, we couldn’t make it. We were still working to get the most out of the medium tires since this morning, and we improved a bit in the afternoon, but not enough. »
