Grosjean: Lotus F1 abandons development of the E22
Following the first free practice sessions of the Italian Grand Prix, Romain Grosjean stated that the Lotus team had decided to focus on the design of the 2015 car.
Romain Grosjean indicated that his team, Lotus F1, had abandoned the development of the E22.
The single-seater from Enstone, which had the heavy task of succeeding the victorious E20 and E21, proved to be far from the level of its predecessors. Arriving late at the start of the season — being the only car not present during the first private test session in Jerez — it has since seemed to suffer from fundamental issues both in terms of performance and reliability.
After four difficult initial races, Romain Grosjean managed to finish eighth in the Spanish and Monaco Grand Prix, scoring the team’s only eight points in twelve events. Subsequently, the summer period resembled a slow agony during which the Lotus cars never seemed capable of repeating their spring performances, despite some developments made in the meantime. Worse, they seem to have fallen further in the hierarchy, especially since the ban on the FRIC suspension system.
During Friday’s Free Practice 2 at Monza, neither Grosjean nor Maldonado could outpace Jules Bianchi’s Marussia. The Frenchman, in a press briefing, indicated that the team decided to focus solely on the 2015 car: « We have some issues with the aerodynamic consistency of the car. It’s a problem we’ve had since day one and it’s something we certainly won’t be able to solve 100% for this season. »
« At least now we have the tools to measure the problems, and from that we can be better, and at least we can try to produce parts that will make them less sensitive in the future, » he explained to Autosport. « We are working on next year’s car. There will be no further development for this season’s car, » he ended by revealing.
When asked if he thinks the Lotus E22 can score new points by the end of the season, the driver with number 8 simply replied: « No. »
The future of Romain Grosjean is still uncertain: although there is not much speculation about the future of the Geneva native, he still wishes to keep his options open if an offer were to arise. Lotus has already expressed a desire to keep its driver, whose management structure, Gravity, is a company of the Genii group, the owner of the Enstone team. Committing so early and at 100% in the development of the future F1 could be seen as a sign towards Grosjean.
