Assessment: Lotus continues to rack up the kilometers

For the team’s home race, Lotus didn’t have much luck this Sunday. Despite a strong qualifying session that saw the team reach Q2 for the first time, the drivers encountered unpredictable problems that hampered their progress.

Kovalainen experienced a sudden increase in engine temperature while Trulli was being pushed by Glock at the very beginning of the race. Despite these incidents, Lotus held strong and both cars crossed the finish line once again, which is the most important thing at this stage of the year.

Heikki Kovalainen – Not classified:

It was still a positive race for us, despite the issues. My start wasn’t fantastic and I immediately fell back. After that, I was in a good rhythm, but I started to notice some problems during the race. I tried to overtake Di Grassi, but I hit his front wing as I passed and damaged my left rear wheel, so I came into the pits. Despite the issues we faced, the car was competitive and I felt very comfortable. Compared to the other new teams, our times were fast, so I’m not going to let this race unsettle me, we’ve learned a lot, and now we turn our focus to China.

Jarno Trulli – 17th:

We got off to a good start, but in the second lap, I was hit by Glock, who spun me around, and from there my race was compromised. Despite everything, I brought the car to the finish, and it shows that our efforts on reliability were worth it.

Tony Fernandes – Director:

It was good to have two finishes; obviously, we are not happy with the positions, but as we have always said, it is already a great result to reach the finish. And we did, as you saw, Heikki’s car had a good pace, so it is encouraging. We learned a lot this weekend and we will take that with us to China, and from Barcelona, as we said, we will look to build from the solid start to the season. I am proud of the efforts the whole team put in today in tough and hot conditions, and we will be there to fight another day.