Grosjean relies on strategy to make a difference

Faced with changing conditions during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, Lotus F1 Team didn't do too badly since its two cars reached Q3. However, Romain Grosjean et Kimi Räikkönen will only start from the fourth row of the grid even though they had the potential to aim higher. “It’s not exactly what we were hoping for.”, recognizes the Frenchman. “You really had to be on track at the right time at the end of qualifying. Seventh position on the grid is not bad, although we were hoping for more. It was clearly not easy. We had thought that the whole session would have been fought out in the wet, but it continued to evolve. That’s Spa! It was a big challenge to anticipate the conditions on the track and make the right decisions at the right time by adjusting our speed. »

The uncertain conditions for the Belgian Grand Prix make the result very uncertain. The stables focus on flexible strategies to adapt to the unpredictable weather characteristic of the Belgian Ardennes. Romain Grosjean is aware that this parameter will be essential to achieve a good performance on this circuit where he has bitter memories of last year. “It’s a track that offers quite a bit of grip, as long as you have the right tires at the right time of course. If you end up with slicks in the wet or intermediates in the dry, you quickly lose grip and things get complicated. We will have to be aggressive on the strategy by choosing our tires carefully. We know we will encounter similar conditions, but we also know that Spa is unpredictable and we must prepare for every eventuality. The car is quite competitive here. I will work with the engineers to understand why Kimi is a little faster in the dry and where we can improve in the wet. Our performance in qualifying could have been better, but I will do my best for the race. »

Click on this link to view photos from the Belgian Grand Prix.