Romain Grosjean places Lotus in the top 10 at Sepang
After a Friday marked by technical issues, Romain Grosjean managed to navigate the Q2 lottery before the rain. He qualified in eighth position but will have to start 10th. On the other hand, Pastor Maldonado couldn't do better than 12th.
Despite showing promising pace, Pastor Maldonado failed to escape the Q2 trap, where it was crucial to set the best time on the first lap: « The performance was there today and we could have reached Q3 if it hadn’t been for the changing weather. We went out on track a bit late, and that penalized us. We showed that we had good pace in Q1. »
The Q3 was a first for Romain Grosjean: it was the first time of the year that he drove his single-seater in the rain. He opted for a cautious strategy by doing a first lap on wet tires before coming in to switch to intermediates: « We had never driven the car with wet tires. It was a bit of a discovery mission, but everything went well. It wasn’t an easy session, but the team made the right decisions. It was the safest choice to start with wet tires. We then switched to intermediates but didn’t have time to finish our lap. So, we had to stop. We only managed one timed lap in these conditions, but we succeeded, and I think we achieved the best we could. »
If he lost two places due to a sanction from the FIA, the Frenchman hopes he can score points at the end of the race to erase the disappointment from Melbourne, where his engine gave out on him in the first lap.
