Lotus wants to reassure itself at the Austrian GP tests

Lotus F1 Team was more than discreet in the first day of free practice for the Austrian Grans Prix since Pastor Maldonado only finished in 15th place while Romain Grosjean only took 19th place between the Marussias of Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi! “The search for grip has been a recurring problem for both Pastor and Romain”, explains Alan Permane, the track operations director of the teamenstone. “We seem more competitive on the long runs with a significant quantity of fuel on board after Romain performed well in these conditions. We clearly have more to learn with this return to Spielberg and we hope for more performances tomorrow. »

Romain Grosjean explains that his poor performance on a flying lap on super soft tires is partly mitigated by his pace on the long stints. “We are struggling because the car is a bit hard to drive, but we seem to be pretty much on pace with the Red Bull on long relays. I was a little surprised knowing where we were just before. We will have to try to reproduce these performances on a flying lap. There car remains complicated to master but it provides us with clues on which we can progress. »

Pastor Maldonado was also disrupted by engine problems which limited him to 30 laps this afternoon. “The day was complicated. We had problems with the Power Unit, the car has a new engine which needs to be calibrated. We were therefore not able to have a good session with the long relays. I think there is still room to progress and be more competitive. I hope the weather will also be on our side to warm up the tires more. »