Friday: Studious day for Lotus Renault GP

Nick Heidfeld – 15th and 8th

« These two sessions were important for us; they allowed us to test the new exhausts and the new diffuser. We didn’t suffer from any technical issues, which allowed us to focus on the core of our program. And now, we can decide which direction to take. As I evaluated the new elements, I did less work on the car’s balance than usual. We also didn’t do long stints with a full tank as we normally do because we were focused on the new features, to learn as much as possible. That said, a positive point is that the Pirelli softs warm up well, but there is still a big difference between the two types of tires. Now, we have work ahead of us to decide what we will do about the diffuser and how the weather looks. It was dry today, which was good, but the forecast isn’t great for the next two days. »

Vitaly Petrov – 11th and 9th

« It was a good day. We did a lot of work on the aero and went through quite a few setups. It was my first time driving on the circuit in F1, so it took me a little time to understand and learn it. In terms of setups, we are not far from having a good car, even though we were interrupted by a water leak during the second session. The soft tires had more grip than what we had experienced previously. Overall, we are happy with the progress we made. »

[From a Lotus Renault GP press release]