Friday: Lotus and Grosjean do not expect miracles, Maldonado misses out
The day was once again difficult for Lotus F1: while Romain Grosjean successfully completed his program, Pastor Maldonado went off the track at the start of FP2, ending his day and adding to the burden of his mechanics.
Romain Grosjean (No. 8) – 13th and 14th
For the Franco-Swiss, the day was relatively good even if not everything was perfect, especially in the afternoon: « The first session went well. We had a bit more trouble in FP2 with a small technical issue at the rear early in the stint, resulting in a loss of performance. »
Regarding the settings, Grosjean explains that particular care has been taken to find an optimal downforce level, without having too many illusions: […] We have rather focused on the right level of aerodynamic downforce and having the settings we wanted. It will probably be a difficult weekend but we are optimizing each part of the package. You never know what can happen at Spa.
Pastor Maldonado (No.13) – 18th and No time
Off-track during the beginning of FP2 due to a concentration issue, the Venezuelan believes the Lotus E22 isn’t too damaged: « I lost the car exiting turn 9, so my afternoon was over. There was a brief stop at the medical center on the way back, but I am fine and the damage to the car isn’t too significant. »
However, he believes that his car will allow him to hope for a good weekend finale: « I have already been able to determine since this morning that we have a decent car here. We certainly have the potential to fight for a good qualification and a good race. We struggle with our power on the long straights, but it’s better than we expected so that’s a positive point. We make up for it with the settings for the second sector so let’s see what we can do tomorrow. »
