Romain Grosjean and Lotus F1 on the verge of points
New complicated race for Romain Grosjean and his Lotus: following his collision with Sergio Perez, he could only finish 11th. Pastor Maldonado, once again, was forced to retire.
After managing to enter Q3, Romain Grosjean had legitimate hopes for the Malaysian Grand Prix race. But he lost too much time behind the Force Indias, particularly during his clash with Sergio Perez, to be able to climb into the top 10, synonymous with points: Generally speaking, we had a good race pace, with a very good first lap and some nice overtakes, even though I lost a lot of time behind Hülkenberg and then with my spin with Perez in such a fast corner. I had a lot of fun overtaking the Red Bulls, Toro Rossos, and Force Indias, which is great. We had a good strategy but lost too much time to benefit from it.
As for Pastor Maldonado, his race was compromised very early as he suffered a puncture on the first lap, which is still less damaging than his accident at the first corner in Melbourne: « Unfortunately, we had an accident on the first lap that cost me a lot of time and compromised the race. After rejoining at the back of the pack, we changed strategy and made up for it well. Unfortunately, we had a brake issue. » This led to a second retirement in as many races. The Venezuelan also received a 10-second penalty and three points on his SuperLicense for speeding under the safety car.
Nevertheless, the displayed pace could suggest promising things, and points seem within reach in the upcoming races.
