Lotus advantaged in the race, even in Monaco, says D’Ambrosio

The Lotus team has mastered the art of race-day performance this season. While they perform well in qualifying, they typically start a few positions behind the first row, yet they prove to be more effective than their competitors during the race. For instance, Kimi Räikkönen, who is on a streak of three consecutive podiums, has already gained 16 positions between qualifying and finishing positions over the first five Grand Prix of 2013.

The management of the tires is undoubtedly one of the key factors in the success of this Lotus, but the team still needs to be able to take advantage of this on the track. The success of the strategy relies on successful overtaking.

In Monaco, the overtaking zones are more complicated to handle, and the slightest mistake is unforgiving. Even with good tire management, it can therefore be difficult to gain positions in Monaco during the race. Jérôme d’Ambrosio – Lotus reserve driver, whom we had the opportunity to question – is nevertheless confident about Lotus’s chances to stand out in the race: « You always have to wait for free practice 3 to see how it’s going to go. It’s a bit of an atypical circuit, but I think the car is performing well. »

Even if he believes that overtaking will mainly occur in the pits, thanks to an offset strategy: Tire degradation during the race is an important factor, even in Monaco, and a driver who degrades their tires a lot will have to pit more, which will be to our advantage. A driver who conserves their tires better will be able to anticipate a stop and overtake a driver like that. The strategy is in the pits, it’s clear that it’s difficult to overtake in Monaco unless a driver has a big issue. Otherwise, overtaking is very rare, it’s too difficult.

He also admits that the time lost behind slower cars will hinder the usual climb made by Lotus drivers: « If we manage to offset the strategies, we might be able to gain some positions. But we’ll have to deal with the traffic and it’s not like in Barcelona. Maybe in Barcelona, we lose one lap before overtaking and here in Monaco, we’ll lose 3 or more, it depends again on the gap between the two drivers. If we are 3 seconds faster, it’s okay, but if we are only one second faster, we won’t be able to overtake easily here, even with DRS. There is certainly less room for improvement than we have seen elsewhere this season. »

From our special correspondent in Monaco.