Sunday: Lotus, two retirements but optimism
After disastrous practice sessions and qualifying, both Lotus drivers Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado retired from the race today. Nonetheless, the British team notes positive signs.
Romain Grosjean – Retirement (MGU-K issue)
Starting from the pits following work on his car after the qualifying session, the French driver had an anonymous race, ultimately retiring due to a failure of the braking energy recovery system, 13 laps before the checkered flag. The Frenchman wants to take something positive from this Grand Prix: « These 44 laps were very positive for the team, for the engineers, and for me. OK, it’s always annoying to retire, but at least we collected a lot of data and can look forward ».
Grosjean also acknowledges that Lotus still has a lot of work ahead to reach the top: « The journey is still long, but we must remain positive; all the changes made this weekend were going in the right direction. We learned more today than during the entire winter testing. It was the first time I could drive a single-seater with consistent behavior in every corner. »
Pastor Maldonado – Abandonment (MGU-K problem)
Without having set any qualifying times, the Venezuelan entered the race without much hope. After 29 laps, his Lotus came to a halt at the trackside due to a failure in the MGU-K, yet Maldonado remains confident: “There are positives, both cars managed to run relatively long in the race which is important. Until now, we hadn’t managed to do more than 20 laps in a row.”
The cause of his retirement, a power unit failure in the energy recovery system during braking, is identical to that of his teammate. « We have a problem with the engine, we will solve it, we must work together and keep moving forward. I look forward to the next race eagerly. ».
