Lotus is in a good position to score points
If the two Lotus drivers were unable to reach Q3, they are on the verge of points as Romain Grosjean is 11th and Pastor Maldonado 12th.
Romain Grosjean recovered from his scare during free practice 2 when his engine cover flew off. He even managed to achieve a better performance than he expected: « We can be satisfied with our qualifications. After this morning, we didn’t think we could make it to Q2, but we made good progress compared to FP3. 11th is a good position to start, on the clean side of the track, and we have a lot of new tires for tomorrow’s race. »
Same sentiment from his teammate, Pastor Maldonado. The Venezuelan’s clear goal is to score points for the first time this season on the circuit where he triumphed in 2012: “Our qualifying was not as bad as expected after yesterday and this morning. We have worked very hard to find a bit more balance in the car.”
In these conditions, the Enstone men chose to sacrifice their one-lap performance to focus on race pace: « We chose a different strategy for qualifying since we saw that our one-lap performance potential wasn’t there. So we prioritized the race and our strategy to make up places, especially since we have an extra set of tires compared to our rivals. »
