Alesi’S Verdict On Valencia

Group Lotus Ambassador Jean Alesi talks Valencia.

Despite a double DRS-zone, Valencia's reputation as F1's most boring track continues. Did you nod off?

Well, I wasn't allowed to snooze because I did the pre and post race show for RAI Uno! Honestly, I didn't think it was boring but there was close fighting between only Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber for second, and an exciting chase to the end between Sebastian Buemi, Paul di Resta, Vitaly Petrov and Kamui Kobayashi. But there was such a gulf in pace between the Red Bulls and Ferraris and the rest of the field, so you had lots of lapped cars and it was quite difficult to follow what was going on. The DRS gave us more passing than we would usually see here, and as I've said before I don't think we want this device to make passing too easy because we can have too much overtaking. It's just that after Canada, which was so exciting, this race was a bit more normal.

Lotus Renault GP seemed to struggle for race pace. Was tyre degradation to blame?

I haven't spoken to the team about it yet, but certainly the qualifying pace was better than the race pace. Nick [Heidfeld] was ninth and Vitaly 11th, which is a pretty good result and from there it should be possible to get both cars into the points. But in the race it was hard as both cars lost some positions in the first two corners. At least Nick was able to get a point, and the team remains fourth in the championship ahead of Mercedes.

Both drivers stopped three times. Other cars around them did two stops, and Sergio Perez managed to do it with one. Was it the right tyre call?

Our team is watching what the top teams are doing, and Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari all three-stopped. Perez might have one-stopped but he finished a lap down and out of the points in 11th. I think Lotus Renault was correct to look to the top teams, it wasn't the wrong strategy and I don't think the pitwall is to blame that we didn't have two cars in the points. As I said, I think the task was made more difficult by losing places at the start and playing catch up.

Silverstone is a very different track, with long fast turns and plenty of passing space. Do you expect the R31 to come to the fore there?

This is a very competitive car and, if things are normal, we should always qualify and finish in the top ten. Sometimes it doesn't all come together and you miss out on what you think you deserve – that, as they say, is motor racing. But yes, Silverstone is a very rewarding track that I think should suit our car – although it will suit Red Bull too. I see no reason why we can't get closer to the top three teams there though.