Melbourne: A little gold in Lotus F1's black weekend

Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado were unsurprisingly unable to reach the finish of the Australian Grand Prix after both suffering from a problem with the MGU-K (kinetic generator engine), on the 29th lap for the Venezuelan and on the 43rd turn for the Frenchman. If the result is disappointing for the British structure, its situation observed over the rest of the weekend allows us to take a step back from their performance. “Even if the results don’t show it, the team did a fantastic job in very difficult circumstances.”, comments Federico Gastaldi, Lotus Deputy Team Principal F1 team. “We know with Renault Sport F1 where to focus our attention in order to improve for Malaysia. It is certain that we must progress, but the team spirit has not diminished. We know what to do and we will do it. »

Romain Grosjean got off to a bad start to his weekend as he left the pit lane after setting the worst time in Q1. However, despite a drive-through inflicted for having left his garage too early during the grid, the Frenchman was able to move up to 12th before pulling over to the side. “It was a positive day in a way. I was expecting to do 15 or 20 laps after all the problems encountered this weekend. We learned a lot today and all the changes made to the car were positive. We still have a long way to go, but at least I know a little more about tires. All my engineers know where we need to progress with the chassis and we have also learned a lot about aero balance and fuel consumption. »

Discover the analysis of the Australian Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 1952 of AUTOhebdo, available from tomorrow evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.