Friday: Lotus F1 and Grosjean in search of the right setup
For the Enstone team, Friday was very difficult: in addition to the engine problem that cost Pastor Maldonado 1.5 hours of running time, there was also a car that remained stubborn and complicated to set up for Romain Grosjean.
Romain Grosjean (n°8) – 12th and 15th
For the French, the start of the weekend is not very good, with a car that is difficult to drive and many tracks studied to improve its behavior: « There is always work to be done and in a way, I was happier with the car this morning. We tried a lot of different settings to improve the aerodynamic platform in the afternoon, going back to something we had earlier in the year. We still need to analyze a lot of things during the debrief with hard work to be done to understand where gains can be found. »
Pastor Maldonado (no.13) – no time and 14th
On the Venezuelan’s side, the first session was cut short due to a Renault power unit issue: The start of the weekend was not easy because we suffered a power unit problem this morning, which meant our first session ended very early. He commends his team for quickly getting the E22 back on track: Everyone did a fantastic job replacing it with a new hybrid block and we were able to make good progress in the afternoon.
He knows, however, that Saturday morning will be decisive for what follows: « There is a lot of work to do with my engineers before tomorrow. I am confident that we can get more out of the car, so as always we will push as much as possible. »
