Saturday: Romain Grosjean places Lotus in Q2

Romain Grosjean (No. 8) – 20th and 16th

The Frenchman from Lotus has to deal with a car that fails to realize its full potential, especially in qualifying. His qualification went as expected, around the Q1-Q2 limit: « It was tight to make it into Q2. We knew beforehand that we were close to the limit. So it was great to be able to get through. If we look at the whole weekend, we struggled on the track. Tonight, the car seemed easier to drive. Obviously, 16th is not great and we’re not satisfied with it, but I’m happy with the way the team has worked and pushed in the right direction. »

Now, all he has left to do is try to do as in Malaysia, namely progress in the race, thanks to a more satisfactory race pace: « We must try things and try to understand why we are where we are and why we can’t unlock our potential. I hope that the race pace will be a little better than in qualifications and that we will be able to fight during the race. »

Pastor Maldonado (No. 13) – 18th and 17th

The Venezuelan, for his part, is on the wrong side of the Q1-Q2 limit, which can only disappoint him: « We are not here to fight for 16th and 17th place. It is therefore a bit disappointing to see where we are in qualifying at the moment. We need to focus and try to push even more on the development of the car to catch up with those in front of us. At the moment, we must acknowledge that our car is slow and difficult to drive. »

Satisfaction is, however, on the side of reliability, which has been present since the start of the weekend: « However, we have made significant progress in terms of reliability. There were no problems this weekend, which is rather positive. So we are keeping our fingers crossed for tomorrow. For the race, we seem much more competitive than in qualifying. I can’t wait for the race and to see what will happen. »