Sunday: Nothing to get excited about at Lotus Renault GP

Tough Hungarian Grand Prix for Lotus Renault Grand Prix, in variable weather conditions. Vitaly Petrov finishes 12th and Nick Heidfeld was forced to retire after the spectacular fire of his car, ending the streak of ten consecutive points finishes for LRGP this season.

Vitaly Petrov – 12th

« Very difficult race today in these changing conditions. When the rain returned towards the end of the race, the temperature of my tires dropped, making the car very hard to drive. The rain seemed persistent so I came in to switch to intermediates, but it didn’t last as long as we thought. We might have gone for the super softs, but predicting the weather is so difficult and quite a few other teams made the same choice. I’m a bit disappointed because scoring points was within our reach if we had applied the right strategy. But that wasn’t the case today. »

Nick Heidfeld – Retirement

« It wasn’t a good race for me today and it’s the second weekend in a row that I haven’t finished. Obviously, I’m very disappointed. My second stop was longer than expected, the car overheated and I saw smoke coming out from the back. It got worse and I saw flames, so I had to stop at the end of the pit lane. My race was over. The last two races haven’t delivered what I hoped for, but we now have a few weeks to turn things around and come back stronger after the August break. »

Eric Boullier, Director

A disappointing race closes this first part of the season. Nick was once again a victim of bad luck after a pit stop. His second stop dragged on due to a problem with a wheel, and the car is not designed to run at high speed like that for so long. Hence, it caught fire. Vitaly had a good start with a solid strategy and was driving well. But the second rain shower disrupted us, and we had to call him back to the pit, which ended our chances of scoring points. The next race is in a month, and although the factory is closed during this period, we are focused on improving our performance in the upcoming Grand Prix.

Alan Permane, Track Engineering Director

A bad day for us. Nick got off to a very poor start and struggled in these wet conditions. During his second stop, we encountered an issue with a wheel nut, which left the car stationary, engine revving high, for a long time. This caused overheating and then a fire. Even though it appeared dramatic, it was only a small piece of bodywork burning on the left sidepod.

Vitaly was having a decent race. He was on a good pace when we switched to soft tires, which should have taken him to the end of the race and allowed for another top 10 finish. Unfortunately, the last shower made the track very slippery for worn soft tires, so we changed to intermediates. The weather then changed quickly and the track dried. So we had to switch back to slick tires again.

Ricardo Penteado, Engine Manager

The Hungaroring is one of the most complicated circuits for us. The average revs per lap are low, but the engine must respond well out of slow corners and on the straights. It’s not the most demanding for engines, however, and we had mounted an engine that was on its fourth race for Nick and the third for Vitaly. But this race was anything but a typical Hungarian Grand Prix. We were very tense because of fuel consumption. We tried to give everything we could to Vitaly to get him into the top 10, but unfortunately, he finished out of the points. Nick’s race ended in a spectacular way, but it wasn’t related to the engine. It’s not the best end to the first part of the season, but we will continue to push to come back stronger after the holidays.