F1 testing – Grosjean finishes with a smile

Romain Grosjean achieved the best time of the test day in Barcelona with a time of 1'22"716 performed on soft tires after a discreet first day. Although the conditions were still wet on the track this morning, the drivers were able to opt for slicks in the afternoon and string together the laps to advance their program. Lotus F1 Team focused on the new adjustments made to the rear suspension of the E21 which today completed 88 additional laps on the Catalunya circuit.

The 2011 GP2 Series champion was satisfied at the end of his final day of testing, with his teammate Kimi Räikkönen taking over for the final two days. “Even though the weather was far from ideal, it was a pretty good day for us and it’s clearly better to finish at the top of the timesheet than at the bottom”, commented the Frenchman. “We had very good reliability again today and the E21 is competitive in all conditions, which is very promising for the coming season. Obviously I would like to spend more time in the car before the start of the season, but we will be very happy if we are in the same position in Australia. »

Alan Permane is also positive at the end of this day after having reworked the set-up of the car byenstone. “This day was much more productive than the previous one,” added the director of track operations. “We began testing new settings on the rear suspension starting in wet conditions this morning, before switching to slick tires in the afternoon to gather more information on the medium and soft compounds. Although the track was not as good as last week due to the recent showers, we were still able to show a competitive pace and our first impressions of the rear suspension are positive. We will work on the developments of the E21 over the next two days. There is still a lot of work to do and we hope the weather will be favorable. »

Results ? Day 6 Barcelona

1/ Romain Grosjean? Lotus? 1’22”716? 88 rounds
2/ Jenson Button? McLaren ? 1'23 »181 (+0 »465)? 72 rounds
3/ Pastor Maldonado? Williams ? 1'23 »628 (+0 »912)? 75 rounds
4/ Sebastian Vettel ? Red Bull ? 1'23"743 (+1"027) - 65 laps
5/ Nico Hulkenberg ? Sauber? 1’23”744 (+1”028)? 79 rounds
6/ Adrian Sutil? Force India? 1'24"215 (+1"499)? 62 rounds
7/ Daniel Ricciardo ? Toro Rosso ? 1'25 »483 (+2 »767)? 61 rounds
8/ Max Chilton? Marussia? 1'25"598 (+2"882)? 75 rounds
9/ Giedo van der Garde? Caterham? 1’26”316 (+3”600)? 48 rounds
10/ Nico Rosberg? Mercedes ? 1'26 »655 (+3 »939)? 120 rounds
11 / Fernando Alonso ? Ferrari ? 1'27 »878 (+5 »162)? 102 rounds