Friday: the Lotus is performing well

Kimi Räikkönen – 7th and 15th

The day went well but we still need to work on the settings. I felt a slight improvement with the steering, but we are continuing work in this area as well. It is very hot, but I feel good in the car. Since the race will take place later in the day, this shouldn’t be a problem for me. I hope we make progress tomorrow because the car is faster than what we have shown. The problem with the KERS this afternoon was a bit frustrating, but it will be fixed by tomorrow. The track is exactly as I remember it. I hope to qualify better than in Australia and I look forward to the race.

Romain Grosjean – 5th and 9th

It was a good day despite two small interruptions in my schedule. This morning I felt something unusual at the back of the car which was quickly fixed, and this afternoon one of my tires was cut. Nothing serious in both cases. We tried to adapt to the heat and work on the settings based on the very high track temperatures. This circuit is fantastic to drive with an F1. We haven’t fine-tuned the settings yet, but we have a lot of data to analyze. We already have a good idea of the directions to take for the qualifications tomorrow.

James Allison – Technical Director

In a way, this day was somewhat disrupted after losing a tire on Romain’s car due to a cut, which limited his track time. This morning, a wheel nut was also improperly fixed on his car. This afternoon, it was Kimi’s KERS that was not working at full power, and consequently, his pace was not representative. Those were the nuisances of the day. On the positive side, the E20 is behaving quite well. The setup bases for both drivers are good, and tire management seems correct despite the intense heat. With a full tank of fuel, the car’s pace appears quite good.

[Lotus F1 Team Press Release]