Grosjean: The Renault engine failure “not acceptable”

The tests in Bahrain following the Grand Prix were meant to be studious for the Lotus team. Result: 32 laps covered, two days cut short due to engine problems, a growing delay, and a certain frustration starting to emerge from Romain Grosjean.

During the press conference organized following the announcement of the end of the team’s tests, the Frenchman did not hide that he was disillusioned: « I must say that these two days have been quite tough for us. We hoped for more, but once again, they [Renault] say that in China or in Barcelona there will be a step forward. Let’s wait… »

Grosjean assesses the damage: « I think we are already very far behind. With a perfect qualifying lap, you are 16th on the grid, which is not what we want. Today, we did some aero tests with, hopefully, some good results that we can understand for China, some things that we might be able to redesign. »

« Then we just have to believe that Renault will be able to produce better performance and reliability because today was not acceptable, » he stated to our colleagues at Crash.net.

This Wednesday, the Lotus only completed 16 laps of the Sakhir circuit, due to power issues that tested the nerves of the men in black, gold, and red: « We struggled with the hybrid block all day, never achieving the power we wanted and only managed a few laps. Fortunately, we did some aero laps and gathered some information, but compared to the program we had planned, it is far from done. »

When asked if it was a different issue than the one Pastor Maldonado experienced yesterday, which also forced him to retire after 16 laps, he replied: « It was a different problem. Yesterday, I wasn’t aware of everything, but today we had an engine problem from the start and then a few more issues emerged with it, and it was over. It was all about the engine today. »