Boullier reflects on a chaotic 2011 season

At Interlagos, the paddock walls are still echoing with the cacophony surrounding the chances of seeing Robert Kubica participate at the start of the 2012 season. By making the announcement official in a statement on Wednesday, the British team was undoubtedly hoping to look toward the next season with a bit more peace of mind. However, this was without considering the reaction of Daniele Morelli, who accused Lotus Renault Grand Prix of misrepresenting Robert Kubica’s words. According to him, Kubica only expressed doubts about his participation in winter testing, not about the start of the season.

Eric Boullier, who accused Daniele Morelli of creating stories out of nothing, was invited on Friday afternoon, at a press conference, to clarify the real situation of the Pole: “The situation is quite clear. We have a contract with Robert until the end of this year and ending this year [editor’s note: the Pole had actually extended for 2012 in July 2010]. That is why we agreed with his manager, Daniele Morelli, to issue a statement before this week, which was fully approved by both parties before being released. The choice of words is my responsibility and I think the message was clear. We have been waiting for Robert, we would love for him to be back, I think we are the first to wish him well and he informed us that, unfortunately, he could not take part in the early tests, which means to me that he will not be able to start the season, that’s all. I think the problem comes from the fact that some translations were poorly done in Eastern Europe and it was indicated that he would not return in 2012, which is not at all our message. The message is clear: he will not be at the start of the season, or the tests if you prefer, but he can return next year,” explains the Frenchman, playing somewhat with words.

After indicating that he was waiting to sit down with Daniele Morelli to discuss and evaluate the situation for the future, the Team Principal of Lotus Renault Grand Prix was confronted with questions from journalists, notably Christoph Schulte from the German magazine Focus, inviting him to explain the current negative press of the British team: “I don’t think we are producing anything negative. I think the message can be published or used negatively. There was a tough choice for the team after experiencing an accident after a week of testing that led to the loss of our number 1 driver, it doesn’t help,” the Frenchman justified. “Then, we had a succession of different situations, like the car which doesn’t lack developments but suffers from having an overly innovative solution with the forward-blowing exhausts. At the end of the season, the results are not good, and whenever a season isn’t good enough, it results in negativity.”

When asked by the journalist about his ability to hold the position of Team Principal of Lotus Renault Grand Prix, Eric Boullier, who took over the team in 2010, responded: « I don’t know! You need to ask my employers. »