Lotus: More Problems with the Renault Engine

The first day of the first in-season private testing session of the four that will occur took place this Tuesday in Bahrain. While at the front, [Mercedes’ dominance was confirmed](https://www.f1/actualite/17351-essais-bahrein-3-jour-1-rosberg-et-mercedes-sans-soucis-lotus-en-souffrance.html), particularly in terms of reliability, for Lotus, the session was cut short.

Indeed, after an already disrupted morning that saw the E22 complete only around fifteen laps, the afternoon was worse as Pastor Maldonado had to step out for good. Questioned by Crash.net during a press conference held in the paddock of the Sakhir circuit, the Venezuelan explained that the problems came from the Renault hybrid engine block.

« It was an issue around the engine. They are still working hard on it to understand better. It’s engine problems and all the complex stuff, » he stated, before clarifying: « Something at the software level but in the end, we weren’t able to test it because this morning we were focused on aerodynamics and we also had to test different things at the level of the engine too. »

The disappointment is further magnified by the fact that the Grand Prix weekend had proceeded smoothly for the Enstone team: « Honestly, I think the problems are sorted because last week we were doing very well. We had no issues over the weekend, a good Friday, a good Saturday, and a good Sunday. Here, maybe it’s a mistake or something else, I don’t know. We need to check what happened with the guys at Renault. »

He downplays the impact of this problem and the resulting lack of track time: « The tests are made for that; we don’t want to waste time during the races and sometimes, it is better to be on track but it doesn’t affect us that much, to be honest. Tomorrow, we have another day, so I hope that Romain can continue the program and I hope it will be a better day for the team. »

Romain Grosjean, precisely, had explained on Sunday evening, right after the Bahrain race, that these tests would be important, particularly in improving the settings of the Lotus E22: « Luckily, we now have two days of testing in Bahrain, so we’ll be able to try different settings to have a car more to our liking. » Speaking to Canal+, he even mentioned that he hoped the team would do as many laps as possible in order to make progress.