The Lotus F1® Team display shards of promise as they continue in a concentrated effort for progression during the 2014 F1® season

The fourth round of the F1® World Championship got underway at the Shanghai International Circuit today, for the Chinese Grand Prix.

A solid qualifying from Romain Grosjean saw him start in tenth place, the first top-ten grid start for the team since the start of the season. Pastor Maldonado however, was unable to qualify due to engine problems and began from the very back of the pack, in P22.

Both Lotus F1® Team drivers had a good start from lights out and for the first half of the race hopes were high for a points finish from Romain. Disappointingly, during lap 28 he suffered with gearbox issues and unable to engage fourth gear he was then forced to retire from the race, much to the team’s disappointment. Pastor on the other hand, drove a consistently solid race and advanced eight places, finishing in P14.

Romain Grosjean DNF, E22-03: “We started by losing fourth gear but it got worse and essentially we lost all gears. It’s the first time we’ve had a problem like this so we’ll have to understand what happened. It had been quite nice in the race as we’d been fighting for ninth position so we were in the points, which is a good improvement from before. We didn’t make it to the end of the race today but let’s hope we finish in the points in Barcelona."

Pastor Maldonado P14 E22-01: “Today wasn’t my best race ever but we finished. My pace wasn’t fantastic but at least we moved forwards and I pushed as hard as I could. We will look at the data as we seemed to lack pace on the straights which made it difficult to overtake and also difficult to defend. It will be nice to have a race weekend without any problems, and that’s what we are all working for when we head to Europe."

Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: "For Romain it was another frustrating day but we can see there is clear progress as he qualified and was racing in the top ten for points. For Pastor, it was a tough day as he was forced to start from the back due to yesterday’s problems, but he delivered everything we wanted from him with some strong lap times during the course of his race. We took another step forward in terms of pace here and we are pushing for another step forward in Barcelona.”

The team now look forward to the Spanish Grand Prix as they head to Europe for the fifth round of the competition, which takes place at the on the 11th May 2014.

The third round of the F1® 2014 World Championship competition sees Lotus F1® Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado taking the flag in P12 and P14

As the sun set on the desert kingdom of Bahrain, The Lotus F1® Team went to battle, and a challenge it was. With Romain starting 16th on the grid and Pastor 17th, it was never going to be an easy task. Yet, once again the team unified, and attacked the job with gusto.

Staving off competition, they managed to gain several places and halfway through the 57-lap race, Romain was running in P15 and Pastor in P12. A later collision for Pastor Maldonado saw him pick up a 10 second stop and go penalty and a 5 place grid penalty which will be applied during the next round of the 2014 F1 Championship, in China. A disappointing end for the team, as both cars took the chequered flag this time around. Romain finished in P12 and Pastor P14.Romain Grosjean P12 E22-03:

“It's good that we didn't have any problems during the weekend and we were able to finish the race with both cars. It's not easy racing - what with the fuel management and energy recovery system – so there’s certainly more mental work going on in the cockpit. At certain points of the race we were quite quick, but then at other points we were really struggling with the rear grip. Fortunately, we now have two days of testing at Bahrain so we’ll be able to try a lot of different set-ups to try to get the car more as we want it."Pastor Maldonado P14 E22-01:

“As we expected the pace was much better in the race than it was in qualifying. We were using quite an interesting strategy and were running on two stops which was working well until the incident. We will need to have a look again at what happened as Esteban seemed to be off his line coming into turn one - maybe he missed his braking point, I don't know – and by then I was in the corner with nowhere to go. For sure it's difficult to understand and I was coming out from the pits and with cold tyres. I think he was very unlucky and it’s good he jumped straight out of the car. As a team it’s a plus that we finished with two cars which is very important and now we need to learn from this race and push hard for Shanghai."Frederico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal:

"Both drivers kept their heads down and kept pushing today. It’s clear we still have to unlock a lot of pace from this car, but we were much better with reliability here and our relative pace has improved too. It was good to see both cars at the finish of the race as this is what we need to improve the car and make it faster.”

The team now head to China for the fourth round of the competition which takes place at the Shanghai circuit on the 20th April 2014.

Romain Grosjean delivers a steady and progressive race in Sepang, whilst power issues for Pastor Maldonado forces a tough decision to retire

Round two of the 2014 F1® season got underway today, and it was a bag of mixed fortunes for the Lotus F1® Team. Starting in P15 and P16, Lotus F1® Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado made good progress off the grid until a loss of power for Pastor during the first lap, cut short the Venezuelan’s race who took the tough decision to safeguard his engine and retire.

Romain however kept the black and gold flag flying high and advanced quickly, accelerating two places and sliding into P13 during the fourth lap. He then maintained his pace, overtaking Caterham’s Kobayashi to claim P12 during lap 32. Continuing his steady fight forwards and providing valuable data for the team, he further ascended into P11 and was forced to furiously defend his place in the last laps of the race thanks to a spirited challenge from teammate of old, Kimi Räikkönen. The Räikkönen charge did not break Romain’s lock down and he successfully crossed the line, his P11 finish in hand.

Romain Grosjean P11 E22-03: “Eleventh place is good for all the guys at Enstone and at the track, and it's good for me too. Finishing the race was our first objective and then we wanted to see where we were with our car. It's not perfect yet but it's good to be where we are at this stage. I had a big loss of downforce around eight laps to the end especially in the rear of the car which made things difficult, especially when I had to defend. Without that issue, I’m sure we could have finished higher. It's good to be back and close to the points so it's a positive for all of us. It was a good battle at the end. I kept remembering our past battles to make sure Kimi couldn't go through!"

Pastor Maldonado DNF E22-01: “After the start we were losing a lot of power so we'll have to investigate later to see what the issue is and analyse the data. This problem meant I had to retire in order to protect the engine. Despite that, this weekend has been clearly a step forwards. Since Saturday, we've been able to run far more with the car and Romain was able to finish the race. Today obviously was not so good for me, but we're not the only ones with issues so early in the season. This is all related to all the complex packages in the car, but we have learnt a lot this weekend and will make progress for the next.”

Frederico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: “Today Romain drove a great race to be in with a shout of points and finish the team’s first race of 2014. That he was able to defend his position for the last eight laps despite his rear diffuser not working properly shows his determination. This determination is shared by the entire team as we now look to extract more performance from the E22. Pastor was very unfortunate with an issue which could have damaged his engine. We needed to retire him so that we can ensure better performance later in the year. We head to Bahrain as determined as ever to find more improvements in performance and reliability.”

The next round of the competition takes place at the Sakhir Circuit in Bahrain on the 6th April.

They always said it was going to be a dramatic first race in this new era of F1® and dramatic it was. Merlbourne’s Albert Park 3.3 mile circuit provided the stage for top-flight motorsport entertainment that saw Lotus put up a positive assault in what was always going to be a tough race for the black and gold team.

Disappointing qualifying for both drivers meant whilst Pastor Maldonado began at the very back of the grid, Romain Grosjean began from the pit-lane and was then further slapped with a drive-through penalty for leaving the pit garage early. Never-the-less, after lights out Maldonado was soon on the march and ascended to P11 before difficulties with the new turbo recovery unit hampered his fight resulting in his retirement in lap 29.

Grosjean faired marginally better in spite of the odds. A consistent battle from lights out saw him needle through the back of the field ascending to P12. However, with just 12 laps to go KERS failure for Romain Grosjean determined his retirement also.

Romain Grosjean DNF E22-03: “In a way, it was a pretty positive day. I expected to do around 15 to 20 laps in the race after all the issues we’ve had this weekend, and we managed 45! We’ve learnt a lot today and all the changes made to the car have been positive. We still have a long way to go, but at least I know more about tyre usage, all my engineers know where we need to improve with the chassis, and we’ve learnt a lot about aero balance and fuel consumption. Of course there's more to do with the energy management and recovery and some work yet with the braking. We’ve still got lots of work to do, but we’re definitely heading in the right direction.”

Pastor Maldonado DNF E22-01: “It was obviously very disappointing, but if you look at the positives we did more laps than in the pre-season which is quite encouraging as we have more data which is very important for making progress. We had a very negative free practice but we did plenty of laps during the race which is very positive for the team. I'm looking forward to the next race and we'll keep pushing.”

Frederico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: “Though the results do not show it, everyone in the team has done a fantastic job in very challenging circumstances. Both our cars finished with problems related to the same MGU-K component so we and Renault F1 Sport both know where we have to focus for our improvements heading to Malaysia. It’s clear we also have other improvements to make, but the team spirit and resolve has not diminished. We know what we have to do and we will do it.”

The next round of the competition see’s the team head to Malaysia and to the Sepang circuit in Kuala Lumpur on the 30th March.

Pastor Maldonado ended the first day of this week’s Bahrain test with 31 laps completed after an exhaust issue shortened the day’s running for Lotus F1 Team. Pastor set a lap time of 1min 40.599secs as the team conducted evaluations of new parts, including an updated exhaust. The team will revert to the earlier specification of exhaust for tomorrow’s running.

Fast Facts:

Track: Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain, 5.4km

Chassis: E22-01

Weather: Sunny and cloudy ambient 23-30°C, track 25-39°C

Programme: Evaluation of new parts.

Laps Completed: 31

Classification: P10, 1:40.599

Interruptions: Software updates and exhaust failure.

What’s Next?

Pastor Maldonado will drive tomorrow for his final day of pre-season testing at Bahrain International Circuit.

Pastor Maldonado:

“For sure it wasn’t what we wanted today, but we are all working very hard to make progress and I’m sure we’ll have solutions quite soon as a team, and it’s clear we have good potential and the car is not bad. We have had some problems but we are fixing them and we are making improvements with electronics and software every day we run.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:

“Today started well and we evaluated new aero parts in the morning. Unfortunately, our new specification exhaust system failed, causing a small amount of damage to the surrounding area of the car. This stopped us running early due to the rectification work required. For tomorrow, we will run with our previous specification of exhaust and we do not expect to see any similar problems to those we saw today.”

Pastor Maldonado completed the final day of the first of two four-day tests at the Bahrain International Circuit with 59 timed laps completed and a best lap time of 1min 38.707secs.

Fast Facts:

Track: Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain, 5.4km

Chassis: E22-01

Weather: Sunny and cloudy ambient 20-27°C, track 21-33°C

Programme: Aero assessment, drivetrain mapping and settings work.

Laps Completed: 59

Classification: P5, 1:38.707

Interruptions: Software and electronic resets.

What’s Next?

Pastor Maldonado will drive for the first two days of the next test at Bahrain International Circuit, commencing on February 27.

Pastor Maldonado:

“We gained a lot more laps today and it was good for me to get time in the car. There was a lot of work with different settings, aero runs and similar which meant there was quite a lot to think about, but I think it all went well. The car was much more reliable which has helped with our work and hopefully it’s a good sign for next week.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:

“Today was much better for us and we’ve been able to go through a lot of different aero assessments as well as mapping and settings work with the new drivetrain. We did have a few glitches which stopped us but these were quickly rectified. We’re still very early on in our understanding of this car and we clearly have a lot of work to do, but today has been our most productive day so far.”

Pastor Maldonado completed his first day of testing in the E22 at the Bahrain International Circuit today with 26 timed laps completed in an interrupted day of running. His best time was 1min 39.642secs.

Fast Facts:

Track: Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain, 5.4km

Chassis: E22-01

Weather: Sunny, ambient 20-27°C, track 21-33°C

Programme: Driver acclimatisation and further car evaluation.

Laps Completed: 26

Classification: P8, 1:39.642

Interruptions: Gearbox and Energy Recovery System related

What’s Next?

Pastor Maldonado will drive tomorrow for the final day of this week’s test.

Pastor Maldonado:

“It’s great to complete my first day of testing with the team, even if we didn’t get the number of laps we’d want. The car feels good with what we’ve done so far and it’s great to be working with everyone in the garage. It’s all been very easy from that side of things and I know I’m going to work well with everyone through the year. We had some problems today, but we hope that tomorrow will be better. I can’t wait for some more laps.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:

“We started the day with a promising morning. Pastor settled in very quickly and we were able to make some progress with the car. Unfortunately, in the afternoon we had a number of gearbox related problems. Renault have made good progress with the software and Energy Store so we are headed in the right direction in that regards. We have identified the issue related to our gearbox and we have parts on their way from Enstone. Given the distance they have to travel, we may not be out first thing tomorrow, but we expect to be able to make further progress once we do take to the track.”

Romain Grosjean completed the second day of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit with another limited programme as the team worked with partners Renault Sport F1 to harness the potential of the E22 at the Bahrain International Circuit today. Romain completed 18 timed laps with a best time of 1min 41.670secs.

Fast Facts:

Track: Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain, 5.4km

Chassis: E22-01

Weather: Sunny, ambient 20-27°C, track 21-30°C

Programme: Installation and functionality checks.

Laps Completed: 18

Classification: P10, 1:41.670

Interruptions: Various software and installation issues

What’s Next?

Pastor Maldonado will drive for the team for tomorrow’s test day.

Romain Grosjean:

“We achieved some more laps today but there’s still work to be done. It’s been a frustrating couple of days as I want to get as many laps under my belt as possible, but at least we’re learning some things about the car. I’m looking forward to returning for next week’s test and seeing what progress has been made.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:

“Obviously we fell way short of what we want to achieve here which is a strong tally of laps at a representative pace. The car itself has looked solid at the pace we’ve run so far, but you only learn so much from lapping at our current level. Clearly there’s work to be done and we’re all doing everything we can to get ourselves in a position to be able to gain valuable data from our testing here.”

The team will announce the arrival of new commercial partners and sponsors when it unveils its 2014 car, the E22, at the beginning of the first Bahrain pre-season test in February. The team will also confirm its organisational structure for 2014 ahead of this test. The team management, car and partner portfolio will illustrate the team’s will and desire to continue its quest to become one of the strongest teams in Formula 1 in every sense.

Gérard Lopez, co-Chairman and Team Principal:

"Lotus F1 Team has never stood still and we head into what promises to be an exciting 2014 season with an innovative new car, new partners and a new management structure at Enstone. Great things have been achieved over the past years and we need to continue this momentum. With this in mind, we are proud to announce that we have concluded an agreement with YotaPhone and its shareholders. YotaPhone shareholders will become important partners to Genii and YotaPhone a sponsor to the Lotus F1 team this year. We thank Eric for all his hard work over the past four years and we are confident we can continue to fight as one of the top teams in Formula 1 over the seasons ahead.”

Through this partnership, Saxo Bank gains unique access to Lotus F1 Team’s portfolio of partners including Microsoft, Clear and Rexona from Unilever and The Coca-Cola Company. The Lotus F1 Team brand will also be harnessed through Saxo Bank’s promotions.

Eric Boullier, Lotus F1 Team, Team Principal:

"We are delighted to begin a relationship with Saxo Bank, a fast-growing online trading and investment specialist who have demonstrated strong support in sport through sponsorships in the world of cycling at the highest level with Team Saxo-Tinkoff. Saxo Bank are taking an exciting and proactive approach to this new partnership with Lotus F1 Team and we are looking forward to enjoying a long and fruitful relationship."

Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen, co-CEOs and co-founders of Saxo Bank:

"Saxo Bank is excited to have the opportunity to diversify its sporting partnerships, which now forge close ties to two of the world’s most popular sports. The philosophy and ambitions of Saxo Bank resonate closely with those of Lotus F1 Team, a team which has emerged as a genuine challenger in a sport which is dominated by bigger and more established players. We look forward to being a key partner of Lotus F1 Team as they embark on the new season and will be supporting them trackside over the coming year."

Back to School - Technical Director Nick Chester gives the lowdown on the E22

As Enstone gets up to full speed once more following the festive season, Technical Director Nick Chester gives an insight into development of the E22.

How is Enstone placed heading into the 2014 season?

Our E22 development programme has been ongoing for over two years and it has been illuminating watching it grow. The backbone of Enstone is strong and we are relishing the challenge of the new season ahead.

How is progress with the E22?

From our perspective the figures look promising and development has been positive. That said, we are very much working with very little idea of what the other teams are doing. This is the first year of radically different regulations which means that all teams are developing their cars along potentially quite different avenues. It’s fascinating for us engineers and I hope it is fascinating for the fans too. We think we have a very good solution to the challenge and hopefully this will be seen when the E22 turns its wheels in anger.

Although the regulations are different, are there good lessons which can be carried over from the E21?

Yes, and I think we can still reflect on what a good car the E21 was as it finished the season still looking particularly competitive, and it was the only car able to get close to the Red Bull. There are certain concepts from the E21 which are still valid for the E22, but in particular our development methodology and synchronisation with our various simulations is especially relevant and promising.

How close is the E22 to completion?

We’ve made very good progress with the various homologation tests which took place before Christmas including chassis squeeze and side impact loading tests as well as the rear crash structure, meaning we just have the nose test to complete the car’s homologation. We’ve undertaken chassis fits for Romain and Pastor. Certainly, our partners who have seen the car have reported themselves to be very impressed with the layout and various solutions to the new technical challenges.

When are we likely to see the E22?

We’re going to keep our car under wraps a little longer than some other teams. We’ve decided that attending the Jerez test isn’t ideal for our build and development programme. We are likely to unveil the car before attending the Bahrain tests, and in Bahrain we should really be able to put the car through its paces in representative conditions.

Lotus F1 Team is pleased to announce that Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado [28] will join the Enstone squad alongside Frenchman Romain Grosjean [27] for the 2014 Formula 1 season.

Pastor – a veteran of 58 Grand Prix starts, including pole position and victory at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix – has driven for Williams F1 Team since entering the sport at the start of the 2011 season.

Romain has raced for Lotus F1 Team since the start of the 2012 season, having previously driven for the Enstone outfit in its former guise of Renault F1 Team during the final seven races of the 2009 season, in addition to serving as third driver for the team in 2011.

Eric Boullier, Team Principal

“It is with great pleasure that we can formally confirm that Romain Grosjean will continue with Lotus F1 Team next season. He has really made the most of his tremendous talent over the latter part of the 2013 season and will be a fantastic asset to our 2014 challenge. Romain will be joined by Pastor Maldonado; a driver I have known since he drove for me at DAMS in the 2005 World Series by Renault season. It is clear that Pastor has pace and potential – demonstrated by his 2010 GP2 Series title success and then through strong races throughout his career at Williams F1 Team – and we are convinced that we will be able to provide the correct environment to enable him to flourish regularly on track. We have been working on our new car in alignment with the new regulations for over two years and we are confident that we have a very good solution to all the challenges ahead. With Romain and Pastor I believe Lotus F1 Team will be able to cause quite a few surprises next year.”

Romain Grosjean, Lotus F1 Team Driver

“I am very happy to have official confirmation that I will be continuing to drive for Lotus F1 Team next season. This past year has been tremendously satisfying for me. We have worked well together, and I know everyone at Enstone is motivated to continue the fight for every last point available. I am very excited about next year’s car and I cannot wait to get out on track for pre-season testing before heading to Australia for the first race of the season.”

Pastor Maldonado, 2014 Lotus F1 Team Driver

“It is a fantastic opportunity for me to join Lotus F1 Team for 2014. It’s no secret that I have wanted a change of scene to help push on with my Formula 1 career and Lotus F1 Team offered the very best opportunity for me to be competitive next season. The regulations and cars will change significantly so it is a very good time for a fresh start. I can’t wait to be racing in black and gold.”

A disappointing end to the 2013 Formula 1 season for Lotus F1 Team yielded the Enstone squad’s first point-less weekend of the year at the final round in Brazil; Heikki Kovalainen dropping three positions from his eleventh placed grid slot whilst team-mate Romain Grosjean retired with an early engine failure having started sixth.

In stark contrast to the first two days of track action at Interlagos, dry conditions remained for the majority of the race; interrupted only by light showers during the closing stages. A tricky start for both drivers saw Romain drop two positions and Heikki four on the opening lap; completing the first tour in eighth and fifteenth respectively.

Three laps later and Romain’s impressive run of results during the final third of the season came to a premature end; the Frenchman’s RS27-2013 engine failing in spectacular fashion on what would be the final appearance for the V8 configuration power plant. Movement amongst the midfield throughout a two stop strategy race was not enough to aid Heikki in recovering from a slow getaway; the Finn eventually crossing the line to take fourteenth place.

Kimi Räikkönen’s absence from the last two races of the season sees him fall to fifth place in the final Drivers’ Championship standings on 183 points; 6 behind Lewis Hamilton in fourth. Romain takes seventh position with 132 points; trailing Nico Rosberg by 39. For the second consecutive season the team finishes fourth in the Constructors’ Championship; a total of 315 points the final tally from Ferrari’s 354.

• Heikki started from eleventh on the grid with a fresh set of medium tyres; pitting for the same compound on lap fifteen and again for new hards on lap thirty-four.
  
• Romain started from sixth on a fresh set of medium tyres; retiring on lap four.
  

Heikki Kovalainen, P14, E21-05

“It has been a great opportunity to drive for Lotus F1 Team and I’m upset that I was not able to score any points for them today. I think the car is great, but I was not able to unlock the pace and make the most of it. I made some mistakes – probably through lack of routine – but I was anticipating it would be easier to come back and race competitively. My starts both here and in Austin were really poor, with procedural issues both times meaning I wasn’t able to keep pace with everyone off the line. That was disappointing as it’s such a big part of the race and it’s very difficult to recover positions. I’d like to thank everyone at Lotus F1 Team for all their support during these two races.”

Romain Grosjean, DNF, E21-04

“At this point in the season I think everyone needs a holiday, but apparently my engine decided to go on vacation early! Of course, that’s not the way we wanted to end the year but it’s been a fantastic season for the team and I think we can be really proud of what we’ve achieved together. We’ve proven this year that we are a top team, and I’m certainly proud of all the guys in the garage and back at Enstone. Today was obviously disappointing for everyone as they deserved more from this final race after all their hard work, but now it’s time to get a little bit of rest and then focus on making sure we head into 2014 and the new regulations as one of the top teams once again.”

Eric Boullier, Team Principal

“Clearly this is a disappointing way to end what has been a strong season for the team in often difficult circumstances. Our goal at the start of the year was to improve on last season’s fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship, and although we may have just fallen short of that target, it has certainly not been through a lack of effort. Fourteen podium finishes and 315 points is a commendable improvement on our 2012 performance, and I am extremely proud of everyone who has worked so hard to keep us right at the front of a very competitive pack until the very last weekend of the season. In Kimi and Romain we have had one of the strongest line-ups on the grid, and I would like to congratulate them both on some fantastic performances throughout the year. From Kimi’s memorable win at the opening race to Romain’s recent run of podium finishes, they have both been superb. It’s going to be a busy winter preparing for the challenges of 2014, but for now we wish everyone a good few days of well-earned rest.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director

“After the season we’ve had with the E21, it’s hugely frustrating that we were unable to give what has been a fantastic car the send-off it deserved. For Romain in particular – who has barely put a foot wrong over the past couple of months – we feel particularly aggrieved after his early retirement. We’ll be looking into what happened with his engine to see exactly what caused such a significant failure, as generally speaking our reliability has been pretty strong all year. After a poor start it was always going to be difficult for Heikki to climb back into the points, but we’re nonetheless disappointed to come away from this weekend with nothing on the board. We now look ahead to the challenge of 2014 aiming to maintain the momentum of the past two seasons.”

Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team Support Leader

“Today was the last race for the V8s and unfortunately Romain’s gave up before the end. We saw a massive drop in oil pressure in the data but we won’t be sure of the exact reason until we get the car back; it could be cause or consequence. In any case it caused the engine to seize and explode in a spectacular way, so we’ll investigate thoroughly to analyse exactly what lead to the failure.”

Romain Grosjean ended the day sixth with Heikki Kovalainen eleventh during a rain affected qualifying session for tomorrow’s Brazilian Grand Prix. The classically unpredictable São Paulo weather saw conditions range from drying, to light showers, then heavy downpours; making for a challenging but entertaining afternoon at the Interlagos circuit.

An absence of rain at the start of Q1 left a drying track as the drivers emerged for their opening runs on intermediate tyres; both making an early jump to take advantage of the conditions before the forecasted showers began. Romain’s time in that single stint was good enough to see him through in eighth place, whilst Heikki opted for a second run to eventually progress in fifth.

With the rain intensity starting to increase, Q2 once again saw both drivers head out for early stints on the intermediate rubber; pitting for fresh sets of the same compound with minutes to spare after initial banker runs. A fantastic lap from Romain saw the Frenchman progress in top spot, whilst Heikki narrowly missed the cut for the top ten shootout in eleventh.

Torrential downpours in the build-up to Q3 saw the session delayed by fourty minutes due to excessive levels of standing water on the track. Once underway, the sole remaining E21 set off for an exploratory lap on wets, before pitting immediately for a switch to intermediates. As the puddles began to clear so the times started to tumble; Romain putting in a respectable lap in the final moments to take sixth on tomorrow’s grid.

Heikki Kovalainen, E21-05

Q: P11, 1:27.456

FP3: P3, 1:28.595

“It’s disappointing not to make the top ten, but I just didn’t have enough pace in the second session; it’s as simple as that. The conditions weren’t ideal, but it’s the same for everybody and there was nothing wrong with the car so I can’t have any complaints. It’s not the ideal starting position, but the car is performing well and anything can happen in motor racing – especially here at Interlagos – so we’ll look at where we can improve for tomorrow and try to do a better job in the race.”

Romain Grosjean, E21-04

Q: P6, 1:27.737

FP3: P2, 1:28.195

“That was quite a difficult afternoon. It was tricky to decide which tyre we should use for the final qualifying session and we wanted to try for pole which is why we used the intermediates, but in the end there was probably just a little bit too much water which certainly made things interesting. Ultimately my lap wasn’t good enough, but the car has been strong all weekend so we’re confident for the race no matter what the weather is. Certainly, my Q2 lap in the wet today was very good and we know we have a strong baseline setup in the dry, so let’s see what happens.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “Not a great qualifying performance from the team.”

How was qualifying?

Honestly? Rather disappointing. The car has been performing well all weekend in the wet conditions, so we were hoping for a strong performance. Heikki was unlucky to narrowly miss out on going through to the top ten by a very small margin, and conceded a couple of small errors on his lap. In the final session we let Romain down with a poorly timed pit stop after making the call to put him out on intermediates. These were the right tyres, but we should have waited a little before he started his run on them.

What’s possible in the race?

We still have a good chance for a strong result tomorrow. Both drivers have been very comfortable with the car in the wet conditions today and we know it performs well in the dry. If it’s dry then everyone will be heading into the race without any tyre data, which could be an advantage for us as our tyre management in the race is generally amongst the best on the grid.

Heikki Kovalainen ended a wet first day of practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix with the fourth fastest time at Interlagos. Romain Grosjean was tenth fastest on a day which started wet and became wetter with rainfall over the Brazilian track in São Paulo.

Technical programme notes

• Pirelli’s Intermediate (green) and Wet (blue) tyres were used in the morning and afternoon sessions.
  
• The morning session was damp, the afternoon was considerably wetter with ongoing rain and increased standing water.
  

What we learned today:

• Wet set-up was validated through a significant number of laps in anticipation of similar conditions for qualifying tomorrow.
  

Heikki Kovalainen, E21-05

Free practice 1: P9, 1:26.133, 31 laps

Free practice 2: P4, 1:28.129, 13 laps

Heikki: “Obviously, it was challenging conditions but it was good for me to get the experience in the wet weather. There were no big surprises and the car was behaving quite well. It was a little bit trickier than driving in the dry, but we expected this. That said, I think the team have made good progress in this area as it wasn’t too difficult to drive. There are still a couple of areas where we can improve on, and whether we have valid information for tomorrow’s weather we don’t know yet.”

Romain Grosjean, E21-04

Free practice 1: P13, 1:26.570, 28 laps

Free practice 2: P10, 1:28.891, 12 laps

Romain: “It wasn’t perfect weather and we still have some progress to make on the wet set-up for conditions like we had today. In the morning it was a struggle for grip with too much understeer, but we made progress in this area for the afternoon and have a few ideas about how we can improve further for tomorrow. It’s certainly a challenge with the spray and standing water, but despite this it’s still awesome to be driving around Interlagos.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:

“We’ve gained strong data using both of Pirelli’s wet tyres. Romain wasn’t happy with his set-up in the morning, but he was much happier in the afternoon. Heikki continues to get comfortable with the car and in the team and showed great pace in the wet in the afternoon with the fourth quickest time. We’re happy with today’s work.”

Romain Grosjean produced a superbly controlled drive to take second place in the United States Grand Prix from third on the grid, whilst a difficult afternoon for Heikki Kovalainen saw the Finn drop to fifteenth from his eighth place grid slot.

A lightning start from Romain saw the Frenchman leapfrog Mark Webber for second place at the first corner, with Heikki dropping to twelfth as the safety car emerged for an incident involving Adrian Sutil. Both drivers maintained position at the restart; remaining as such until the first round of pit stops.

Managing his pace and tyre degradation perfectly, Romain held off a strong charge from Mark Webber immediately following a single pit stop each, and again in the latter stages of the race. Heikki rose as high as tenth after the opening batch of stops, only to suffer a loss of front downforce which forced the Finn to pit for a new nose having dropped two positions in quick succession.

Romain crossed the line to clinch a fourth podium finish from the last five races – his sixth overall in 2013 – to see the Frenchman ranked the second highest points scorer since the Singapore Grand Prix behind World Champion Sebastian Vettel. Heikki came home fifteenth at the flag.

Kimi Räikkönen’s absence from the race sees him fall to fourth place in the Drivers’ Championship on an unchanged 183 points; four behind Lewis Hamilton in third. Romain remains in seventh position with 132 points; trailing Nico Rosberg by 29. The team remains fourth in the Constructors’ Championship on 315 points from Ferrari’s 333, with third spot remaining a firm target heading into the final round in Brazil.

• Heikki started from eighth on the grid with a scrubbed set of medium tyres; pitting for new hards on lap 17 and fresh mediums on lap 31. The Finn’s second stop included a nose change after the Finn reported a loss of front downforce.
  
• Romain started from third on a scrubbed set of medium tyres; making a single stop for a new set of hards on lap 29.
  

Heikki Kovalainen, P15, E21-05

“My start wasn’t great but then it was going okay until the first pit stop as I was racing with the pack with the car feeling quite good. After the pit stop I started to have a few problems, but it was difficult to know exactly what was going on. We had issues with downforce so we changed the front wing and after that it was much better, although still not as good as it’s felt previously this weekend. There was a KERS issue too, though not enough to account for my lack of race pace. We’ll have a good look at the data and hopefully be on top of things far better for the race in Brazil.”

Romain Grosjean, P2, E21-04

“That was a really tough race. I had to have probably one of my best ever drives to keep Mark [Webber] behind and it’s a great feeling to have tamed at least one of the Bulls in Texas as they clearly had the fastest package today. We knew a good start would be the key, so making up one place in the first corner was really important and the car was just fantastic from there onwards. The whole team here and back at Enstone are doing an amazing job. Every day I see them working hard together to keep us at the front and when you look at the gap to the next nearest challenger, it’s clear that we’re the second best team after Red Bull right now. I think this place must bring me luck; this time last year I found out my wife was pregnant and now I’ve equalled my best finish in Formula 1, so I can’t wait to come back again and see what happens next year!”

Eric Boullier, Team Principal

“It’s been another positive weekend for the team. We scored more points than our championship rivals through a perfect drive from Romain. It really was his best Grand Prix ever and another excellent performance to add to his recent run of great form. The only way we could fight the Red Bulls was if Romain made a great start and that’s exactly what he delivered. It’s disappointing that Heikki couldn’t convert his eighth place on the grid to a points finish, but we had issues with his front wing and KERS which we will investigate before Brazil.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director

“We congratulate Romain on an absolutely faultless race of 100% perfection lap after lap. He was under enormous pressure from Mark Webber in what was clearly a faster car and he did exactly what was asked of him at every turn of the race. It was a shame for Heikki as he didn’t have a great start, then he had an issue with front wing and then KERS. On the plus side, he ran to the end of the race so has gained valuable experience in the E21 ahead of Brazil.”

Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team Support Leader

“A great result for Romain and awesome to see our package beating one of the Red Bulls on sheer pace. At this stage in the season – and in the fight for the Constructors’ Championship – these points will be very important. Heikki did a good job all weekend but unfortunately could not challenge for the points after a change for a new front wing and then a KERS issue when he rejoined. It seems to be a mechanical issue and we’ll check after tonight to see how to prevent a reoccurrence in Brazil.”

Romain Grosjean ended the day third with Heikki Kovalainen eighth during qualifying for tomorrow’s United States Grand Prix. Cool, dry, misty conditions prevailed during the morning’s final practice session, with rising temperatures and sporadic gusts of wind the feature of qualifying at the Circuit of the Americas.

An unpredictable Q1 session saw varying grip levels and wind speed make a significant impact on the latter stages of proceedings. Romain Grosjean benefitted to progress in tenth position without the need for a run on the medium compound tyre, having topped the times with his initial effort on hards. A comfortable start for Heikki Kovalainen meanwhile saw him move through to the next phase in seventh place after a solid medium-shod run.

Q2 by contrast was a tightly fought affair. A single run on medium rubber for Romain clinched fifth spot on the time sheets; the Frenchman setting a competitive first lap before aborting his second attempt after a big lock-up. A solid opening effort from Heikki was followed by a last-gasp second stint, in which the Finn soaked up the pressure to reach the pole position shootout by the narrowest of margins in tenth.

A single, medium tyre run apiece in the final showdown brought a strong finale to Saturday in Austin for the boys in black and gold; Romain making his third top-three qualifying appearance from the last six races, with Heikki impressing in eighth.

Heikki Kovalainen, E21-05

Q: P8, 1:37.715

FP3: P13, 1:37.879

“I knew yesterday that we had a good car, but I didn’t really set myself a target for qualifying. I felt that I got pretty much everything I could from it today, as I struggled a bit compared to yesterday with the cooler temperatures this afternoon. Overall, everything’s been positive so far and we got into the top ten. I’m not making any predictions, but we’ve seen that Kimi could do pretty well working forwards from similar grid positions so hopefully tomorrow we can have another good day.”

Romain Grosjean, E21-04

Q: P3, 1:37.155

FP3: P5, 1:37.345

“It’s not been the easiest weekend in terms of finding the right balance with the car, so to be third on the grid is a good result. We managed to go through Q1 on the hard tyre which was not the plan initially, but it was a nice surprise and gave us options for the two following sessions. It’s great for the team to have Heikki [Kovalainen] in the top ten too – especially with Mercedes and Ferrari struggling a little bit – as we’re still fighting them hard in the Constructors’ Championship, so hopefully we can score good points with both cars tomorrow. Sebastian [Vettel] and Mark [Webber] were very quick today, but of course we’ll do our best to round up the bulls in the race; we are in Texas after all!”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “We’re very happy with today’s performance from both drivers”

How was qualifying for the team?

We’re very happy with today’s performance from both drivers. Romain is once more leading the charge against the Red Bulls after a reasonably straight-forward progression through the qualifying sessions. Heikki has come in and demonstrated that he’s certainly got the ability to deliver at the front of the pack; progressing through to the top ten with no real dramas despite his limited experience with our car.

How impressive has Heikki been so far this weekend?

He’s jumped into the car and delivered exactly what we’ve wanted from him. He qualified solidly in the top ten and has a realistic opportunity to score good points tomorrow. As we’ve seen this year, our car is often stronger in the race than it is in qualifying so he has great potential tomorrow; especially as he’s learning the car more with every lap.

Considerations for the race?

Our long run pace looks good and there are overtaking opportunities here. The track has evolved well since last year, so there isn’t such a hunt for grip and that should help tyre performance. We’re feeling quite confident.

Romain Grosjean produced a strong drive to take fourth place in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from sixth on the grid, whilst Kimi Räikkönen’s race ended in retirement following contact at the first corner.

A flying start from Romain saw him jump two places to fourth position through the opening series of corners; settling in behind the third-placed Red Bull of Mark Webber until the first round of pit stops. Kimi meanwhile saw his evening curtailed after just a few hundred metres; a clash of wheels with Caterham’s Giedo van der Garde resulting in a broken track rod on the Finn’s E21.

Having emerged right behind Esteban Guttierez after his first pit stop, Romain wasted little time in passing the Mexican, only to be held up behind Adrian Sutil until the second phase of stops. Once in clear air, the Frenchman pushed hard to build a sufficient gap which would allow him to re-join in front of both Ferraris following his second stop; achieving that task by the narrowest of margins. Despite consistently closing the gap to Nico Rosberg in the closing stages, Romain missed out on a fourth consecutive podium finish by a margin of just a single second at the flag.

Kimi retains third place in the Drivers’ Championship on 183 points; 34 behind Fernando Alonso in second. Romain remains in seventh position with 114 points; trailing Nico Rosberg by 45. The team remains fourth in the Constructors’ Championship on 297 points from Ferrari’s 323, with third spot remaining a firm target heading into the final two races of the season.

• Kimi started from twenty-second on the grid with a new set of medium tyres, having been excluded from his P5 qualifying slot due to a technical infringement on his E21. He retired on the first lap after contact with Giedo van der Garde at Turn 1 which broke his right-front track rod.
  
• Romain started from sixth on a scrubbed set of soft tyres, having been promoted one position on the grid as a result of his team-mate’s penalty. The Frenchman pitted on lap eight for new mediums, and again on lap thirty-seven for a scrubbed set of the same compound.
  
• In his pursuit of the final podium position, Romain set the third fastest lap of the race on his penultimate lap; underlining the pace of the E21 here at the Yas Marina Circuit.
  

Kimi Räikkönen, DNF, E21-05

“There was some contact in front of me through the first corner so I stuck to the inside, but unfortunately one of the Caterhams touched my front wheel and it broke the track rod. It wasn’t a heavy impact, but the angle made it worse. It’s never easy starting so far back on the grid, but after the penalty it was a better choice to help our chances in the race rather than starting from the pit lane. After a difficult start to the weekend we did well yesterday so it was a shame we couldn’t start where we qualified, but these things happen sometimes; it’s just back luck.”

Romain Grosjean, P4, E21-04

“That was a pretty long race. I got a good start and made up two places in the first few corners, but after that I lost a lot of time behind the Force India. I could overtake him with the DRS, but he had much better top speed and could just drive straight back past at the next straight. That middle stint cost us the chance of a podium in the end, and on pace we could maybe even have pushed Mark [Webber] for second place, but that’s how it goes sometimes. It’s a shame we couldn’t make it four podiums in a row, but to come away with fourth place after a difficult couple of days is a decent result.”

Eric Boullier, Team Principal

“It’s been a difficult weekend for the team, but we can be pleased with the fact our car has once again shown strong pace at another different circuit. After the misfortune of his qualifying penalty it was always going to be a tough race for Kimi. Starting at the back with a faster car always puts you in a tricky position, and in the end it was bad luck once again that saw his race end on the first lap; for the first time since 2006 I believe. Romain drove a very mature race to narrowly miss out on his fourth consecutive podium, which on another day and without his issues in qualifying would certainly have been within reach. We have some work to do if we are to achieve our target of third place in the Constructors’ Championship, so our focus must now be on returning to the podium in Austin.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director

“We came into this weekend anticipating another podium challenge, but unfortunately circumstances have ultimately conspired against that happening. Having already been stripped of his best qualifying performance since Germany, Kimi’s race was cut short on the first lap after a tangle with one of the Caterhams, bringing a disappointing end to a weekend where his pace had been much improved. It was a trouble free race for Romain by contrast, who drove well to take fourth place. His progress was quite heavily hindered by traffic midway through the race and we didn’t quite have the pace to challenge [Nico] Rosberg in the closing stages, so realistically he achieved the best possible result on the day. What’s especially pleasing is that he’s gone from being labelled a ‘first lap nutcase’ to consistently gaining positions away from the line and through the opening sequence of corners at each race. We now head to Austin where we’ll be working hard to make a return to the podium.”

Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team Support Leader

“Romain did a great job today to finish just outside the podium places. Again he managed the engine and fuel consumption well so we could turn up the engine modes when we needed to push and he came away with some valuable points for the championship battle. Unfortunately Kimi stopped early, but it’s always a risk when starting from that position. We’ll keep it focused for the final two races though and try to get as many points as we can to finish the V8 era on a high.”

Kimi Räikkönen ended the day fifth with team-mate Romain Grosjean seventh in a tightly contested qualifying session for tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Hot, dry, still conditions prevailed during the final practice session, with cooling temperatures the feature of qualifying as the sun set over the Yas Marina Circuit.

A straightforward Q1 session saw both drivers set a banker lap on medium tyres, before emerging for a single stint on soft rubber to sail through in third [Kimi] and seventh [Romain]. Q2 by contrast was a closely fought affair; the Finn and Frenchman progressing in ninth and eighth respectively, separated by less than three hundredths of a second after two runs apiece on softs.

The top ten shootout of Q3 again saw both black and gold cars make two appearances on soft tyres, with their opening runs good enough for a pair of top six placings. As the chequered flag dropped under the Yas Marina floodlights, Kimi found himself fifth with Romain seventh.

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-05

Q: P5, 1:40.542

FP3: P9, 1:42.387

“Today wasn’t too bad overall. In the early sessions both yesterday and today I struggled a bit to get the car working how I wanted, but in the evening when the temperature is cooler it’s been much more to my liking. This is good as the race will be in the evening so we’d prefer it that way around for sure. The short wheelbase car seems to suit my style a bit better too, so hopefully we can continue this way for tomorrow. Of course, you always want to be as far up the grid as you can and we clearly weren’t the fastest today, but you never know what might happen on Sunday so we’ll see what we can do.”

Romain Grosjean, E21-04

Q: P7, 1:40.997

FP3: P5, 1:41.832

“That was one of the trickier qualifying sessions we’ve had recently, and seventh on the grid is not where we expected to be after the pace we’ve shown so far this weekend. The car felt quite different this evening – particularly in terms of front end – so we’ll need to investigate where it’s not quite working. It’s a long race tomorrow in tough conditions and everyone around us will be starting on the same tyres, so we need to try and find some performance from the data tonight to achieve our target of the podium.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “We expect strong race pace tomorrow”

How was qualifying for the team?

That was a great qualifying performance from Kimi who was unlucky not to be in front of both Mercedes after the final sector of his qualifying lap narrowly cost him a potential third position. By contrast, Romain had a bit of a struggle today and wasn’t as comfortable with his car as he has been so far this weekend. Having both cars inside the top ten is a decent result however, as we expect to see strong race pace from the E21.

What is possible tomorrow?

Our target on pace alone is to race and beat Mercedes; ending the weekend with another good points haul over them in the Constructors’ Championship in the process. Of course, we’ll be ready to capitalise on any opportunities that Red Bull may present us, but they are looking very fast once more here.

What are the tyre strategy considerations for the race?

There don’t appear to be too many permutations here, so it could be quite a straight-forward race. Certainly, the different options that presented themselves in New Delhi don’t look to be available here so we’ll watch how the race evolves and react accordingly.

Kimi Räikkönen ended the first day of practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with the fourth fastest time of the day at the Yas Marina Circuit; racking up the joint-highest number of laps completed in the process [65 across the two sessions].

Romain Grosjean was fastest in the first session, but had a brake and then a vibration issue in the second session to end the day twelfth fastest.

Technical Programme Notes:

• Kimi ran with the team’s original, shorter wheelbase specification whilst Romain ran with the later, longer wheelbase specification.
  
• Kimi ran trouble-free throughout both sessions enabling a variety of set-up permutations to be evaluated, whilst Romain missed track time in the second session due to an issue first with his brakes, then with vibration.
  
• Pirelli’s medium [white] tyre was used in the first session, the medium and soft [yellow] compound in the second session [both held in the afternoon].
  

What We Learned Today:

• The E21 demonstrated strong potential using both tyre compounds in both long and short configuration.
  

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-05

Free Practice 1: P6, 1:44.929, 23 laps

Free Practice 2: P4, 1:41.726, 42 laps

Kimi: “The car feels okay and we had a pretty normal Friday. The shorter chassis feels okay here, but I didn’t drive it back to back with the longer one so it’s difficult to say which is better. We’re still trying to get rid of some understeer, but on this circuit it feels better so far. As always, there are some improvements we can make to the car so let’s see what happens tomorrow.”

Romain Grosjean, E21-04

Free Practice 1: P1, 1:44.241, 21 laps

Free Practice 2: P12, 1:42.607, 18 laps

Romain: “It’s been a pretty good day even if we missed time in the later session whilst the brakes were worked on. We also had a little vibration that needed looking at, but it wasn’t the end of the world. The car feels pretty good as we saw with the fastest time in the first session, so I’m sure we’ll get on top of everything we need to for tomorrow.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:

“As always in Abu Dhabi, we saw two very different sessions on Friday; the first taking place in daylight with very high track temperatures, the second in much more representative evening temperatures which is what we’ll see for qualifying and the race. We completed limited setup work in FP1 – focusing on setting ride heights rather than car balance – then used FP2 to complete our normal evaluations of the two tyre compounds. Unfortunately Romain had a brake disc failure which lost him some track time, and there was a small vibration when he returned to the track so we cut his day short in order to fully investigate this issue. Kimi meanwhile had a good day and looks competitive on both tyres. He wanted to try the short wheelbase car again as he felt its characteristics would suit this circuit. So far it all looks good and this configuration will be kept on his car for the remainder of the weekend. His long-run pace looks very encouraging on both tyres.”

Romain Grosjean drove a perfect race from seventeenth on the Indian Grand Prix grid to third at the chequered flag – despite enduring problems with his engine’s pneumatic system – whilst Kimi Räikkönen found the limits of his tyre’s performance as the team attempted a one-stop strategy.

Romain managed his car well to take the final podium slot while the team and engine partners Renault devised a strategy to limit the air consumption of his engine’s pneumatic system. Kimi ran out of tyre performance near the end of his race, resulting in a late pit stop and the consolation of the race’s fastest lap.

Kimi retains third place in the Drivers’ Championship on 183 points; 14 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton and with a reduced gab to Fernando Alonso on 207 ahead. Romain rises to seventh position on an equal points tally – 102 – to Felipe Massa in eighth. The team remains fourth in the Constructors’ Championship on 285 points from Ferrari’s 309.

Over the previous four races – Singapore, Korea, Japan and India – Lotus F1 Team has scored the second highest points tally of any outfit on the grid with a haul of 94, behind only Red Bull Racing on 118. In that same period, only Sebastian Vettel has outscored Kimi and Romain; 100 points for the German compared to the Finn’s 49 and Frenchman’s 45.

• Kimi started from P6 with a scrubbed set of soft tyres, changing to new mediums on lap 7 and making a late stop for a further set of mediums on lap 58.
  
• Romain started from P17 on a new set soft tyres, changing to a new set of mediums on lap 13.
  

Kimi Räikkönen, P7, E21-05

“We ran maybe the first twenty laps with no brakes as they had overheated massively, so every time I got close to somebody I lost braking. At the end of the race I ran out of tyre performance too so it’s been a pretty disappointing day. I knew the tyres would drop off quite quickly, but there wasn’t much to lose between trying to get to the end and making an extra pit stop in terms of time lost. In the end it didn’t work.”

Romain Grosjean, P3, E21-04

“If you had told me yesterday that I’d be on the podium here I would have said you were crazy! Straight from the beginning of the race I felt very comfortable on the option tyres and we looked in pretty good shape, then we fitted the mediums and the car was really quick. I lost quite a lot of time behind [Esteban] Gutierrez which maybe cost us the fight for second, but we managed to come back from that well. When I saw that I was fourth in front of [Felipe] Massa with 27 laps to go I knew it was going to be close with him as we had to take care of the tyres, plus we had an engine issue at the end of the race which made things quite tricky. In the final laps Kimi was really struggling with his tyres so I managed to pass him and luckily had enough pace to keep Felipe behind. Before the race our best prediction was fourth if we had a strong start and a perfect race, so it was an amazing result and a great performance from the team.”

Eric Boullier, Team Principal

“It’s been an eventful weekend. In the end it was a brilliant job from the team and a great performance from Romain, who had a very strong drive and managed to conserve his tyre performance right to the end. He was fast today despite having to nurse his engine, and being on the podium is a good reward for the whole team. Obviously it’s disappointing that the tyres couldn’t last long enough for Kimi as being third and fourth would have been an amazing result for the team and very useful in the Constructors’ Championship, but we’ll keep fighting hard until the end of the season and we’ll give some headaches to the other teams. We give our congratulations to Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull for their Championship victory today, and also our promise that we’re working hard to give them a tougher battle in 2014.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director

“It was a fantastic race from both drivers, even though the strategy didn’t quite work out for Kimi. We started with a plan of two stops for him but made the call to go for one after losing time stuck behind Nico [Hulkenberg]. Unfortunately the tyres didn’t quite last as long as he needed and he was forced into making a late stop for fresh rubber. It was a fantastic drive from Romain again and a great call from our strategy team to move him from seventeenth to third; that was just brilliant. Romain’s engine pneumatic system’s air consumption was a big worry and we had to use every trick in the book to avoid him retiring as per Singapore. Overall, a great team performance today.”

Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team Support Leader

“A hard race today right until the end, and a relief to get the eventual result! Romain did a fantastic job to finish on the podium; especially with having to manage a problem with the pneumatic system. Unfortunately we had an occurrence similar to the issue from Singapore – despite having put a solution in place – so we’ll look at this before Abu Dhabi. Also a big congratulations to all at Red Bull; it’s great to see another Renault powered title!”

Kimi Räikkönen qualified sixth with team-mate Romain Grosjean seventeenth ahead of tomorrow’s Indian Grand Prix. Warm, dry conditions remained throughout the day at the Buddh International circuit, with the poor visibility that had hampered FP3 earlier in the day clearing sufficiently to allow un-interrupted running for qualifying.

A tightly contested Q1 session saw Kimi make two runs – one on each tyre compound – to eventually progress in P6 using the soft rubber. Romain by contrast ran a single stint on medium tyres; a gamble which narrowly failed to pay off as the Frenchman found himself eliminated at the first hurdle, despite posting a time just a second away from the fastest car.

Q2 was more straightforward for the remaining E21; Kimi progressing comfortably to the top ten in fourth with a strong pair of single lap runs on the medium tyres. The final session saw the Finn take sixth spot at the flag with a single run on soft rubber.

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-05

Q: P6, 1:25.248

FP3: P11, 1:26.635

“It wasn’t an ideal qualifying session and I’m still having some problems with understeer, but the car did feel better overall than yesterday. The tyres have to be managed over a full lap for qualifying so we are where we are on the grid. We’ll see what happens tomorrow and I’ll try to do as well as I can. Overall, the car feels slightly better than in the last few races; still not where we want it to be, but slightly better.”

Romain Grosjean, E21-04

Q: P17, 1:26.577

FP3: P5, 1:26.350

“We took a gamble once again to try just one run on the prime tyres in Q1, and although it’s been a successful tactic for us recently it didn’t pay off this time. The times were much tighter than expected and ultimately we made a miscalculation with the cut-off time. It’s easy to look back and think what might have been, but we made the decision together and unfortunately in the end it was the wrong one. It’s tough to overtake here so it’s going to be a long race from seventeenth on the grid. We’ll have to pull off something quite special with the strategy to take anything from there, but of course we’ll analyse the options overnight to see what’s possible. For sure we won’t be leading after the first corner this time, but we’ll do our best.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “In hindsight we made the wrong call”

How was qualifying for the team?

In hindsight we made the wrong call with Romain. We expected him to progress quite comfortably through Q1 on the medium tyre and unfortunately this wasn’t the case. Clearly, he’s starting a long way out of position and will need a strong charge through the field to make it into the top ten, but we’re extremely confident that he’ll be able to do so. How far into the points he can progress will depend on the start and our management of the tyres. It was a reasonably straightforward session for Kimi with no real dramas. He’ll be the first to admit that qualifying hasn’t been going to plan for him recently, and he’s about where we expected him to be after free practice this morning. As always we’re confident that his race pace will be exemplary, so we’re anticipating a very strong race from him starting from sixth on the grid.

Where do we stand in terms of setup to help the drivers progress through the field tomorrow?

We’ve taken this into account after seeing how tough overtaking can be here during last season’s race. Kimi’s car is certainly more biased towards race pace than single lap performance, and we’ll be looking at ways to help Romain carve his way up the order overnight too. Our race pace on the medium tyre looked strong during practice, so we’re hopeful of making progress.

What are the tyre strategy considerations for the race?

Today very much followed the pattern of the weekend so far, with the option tyre suffering from blistering and graining while the prime looks to be a very strong choice for the race. We’ve seen so far that there’s about a second per lap difference in long run pace between the two. One of the keys to the race is certainly making the front left tyre – and to a lesser extent the front right – last when using the soft compound; particularly on high fuel at the start of the race.

Romain Grosjean ended the first day of practice for the Indian Grand Prix with the third fastest lap of the day, whilst Kimi Räikkönen was eighth at the Buddh International Circuit. Both drivers completed their Friday programmes, with extra focus given to long runs on Pirelli’s soft and medium tyre allocation.

Technical programme notes

• Both cars ran trouble-free through both sessions enabling a variety of set-up permutations to be evaluated.
  
• Pirelli’s medium (white) tyre was used in the morning and the medium and soft (yellow) compound slick tyres were used in the afternoon session.
  

What we learned today:

• The E21 demonstrated strong potential using both tyre compounds.
  

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-05

Free practice 1: P17, 1:28.730, 18 laps

Free practice 2: P8, 1:26.632, 32 laps

Kimi: “The car feels pretty okay now, but we can still make it better. We made quite a few changes in the morning as it didn’t feel so good then, but it’s much better now and we should be able to make more progress for tomorrow. The track is quite slippery, but that improves with time and the car gets better too.”

Romain Grosjean, E21-04

Free practice 1: P4, 1:26.990, 20 laps

Free practice 2: P3, 1:26.220, 36 laps

Romain: “That was a good start to the weekend. The car feels good and we made progress through the day to make it better. It’s still a struggle to find grip here which can make things interesting as you find the limits, but the pace of our car relative to our rivals looks quite good. I’m hopeful of another solid day tomorrow which should give us another strong qualifying position if the evidence of today is anything to go by. We’ll do everything we can to take the fight to Red Bull.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:

“It was a difficult morning for Kimi who wasn’t happy with the balance of his car so his engineers made a reasonable amount of changes to the set-up over lunch, meaning the car was much more to his liking in the afternoon. Romain was generally happy with his car and just made minor changes to the set-up to get it 100% to his liking. We completed a good number of laps on low and high fuel with both tyres and we’re looking in strong shape. The Red Bulls are unfortunately looking incredibly quick, but we’re leading the charge behind them.”

Another strong performance for Lotus F1 Team saw Romain Grosjean take a fighting third, whilst team-mate Kimi Räikkönen battled his way to fifth in a tense Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. A superb start from Romain saw him lead in the early stages, before fighting hard with both Red Bulls in the latter stages. Kimi endured a tough start – dropping back to P11 – before battling back in typical fashion to climb back up the order.

Kimi retains third place in the Drivers’ Championship on 177 points; sixteen clear of Lewis Hamilton and thirty behind Fernando Alonso. Romain Grosjean remains eighth in the standings on 87 points, just three behind Felipe Massa. The team maintains fourth in the Constructors’ Championship on 264 points; now just 23 behind Mercedes and comfortably ahead of McLaren.

• Kimi started from P9 with a scrubbed set of medium compound tyres, changing to scrubbed hard tyres on lap 11 and new hard tyres on lap 31.
  
• Romain started from P4 on a scrubbed set of medium compound tyres, changing to scrubbed hard tyres on lap 12 and new hard tyres on lap 29.
  

Kimi Räikkönen, P5, E21-05

“I had a very poor start. I left the line with wheelspin and lost a few places which wasn’t ideal, but I managed to gain places back later on in the race. After the final pit stop the car was working much better. It ran well in the last half of the race and I was very happy with it. It was a pretty normal race I would say. It’s difficult to overtake here so it’s good that we got some points. We did what we could.”

Romain Grosjean, P3, E21-04

“Today was just a very, very good race. What a start! It was superb to go past both the Red Bulls like that and it’ll be one of my best memories of the year. The car was fantastic on the first set of tyres and we managed to pull away, but then the Red Bulls were able to reel us in later on. Ultimately, we were the only car to almost catch the bull. It’s been a great home race for my engineer; it’s always good to come to Japan and it’s really good to be back on the podium again.”

Eric Boullier, Team Principal

“It’s great to see such a good fight in the race and both our cars show so strongly. Once again, both drivers, our strategists and the pit crew performed brilliantly and we did the very best we could on track. We don’t have the pace to beat Red Bull, but today we showed them that we are nevertheless quite formidable whilst also underlining to Mercedes and Ferrari that we are a strong contender for the final four races of the season. We must say a big thanks to everyone at Enstone for the fantastic car we have in the E21. To see Romain leading the race was very satisfying and we hope to see that again very soon.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director

“It was a great race for us and superb to see Romain leading for so much of it. We were the only team to take the fight to Red Bull; ultimately they were too quick for us but we took a strong and well deserved third place with Romain and a fighting fifth with Kimi. Romain made a fantastic start and we had enough in hand in the first stint to be able to pit a lap later than Mark, but they started to catch us on the medium tyres and Sebastian was able to catch and pass reasonably easily with their superior pace. It’s a great feeling to show so strongly at Suzuka.”

Ricardo Penteado, Renault Sport F1 Team Support Leader

“Suzuka plays to the strengths of our chassis-engine package, with the straights taking advantage of the good top end power whilst our driveability and good tyre wear favour the slower, more flowing sections. A great race for Romain today; he had a fantastic start and was in contention for the win throughout the entire race. Kimi also had a strong race and was very close to giving Renault a perfect 1-2-3-4 result!”

Romain Grosjean qualified P4 with team-mate Kimi Räikkönen P9 ahead of tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix. Warm, dry conditions remained throughout the day at the Suzuka circuit, with changing wind direction a factor throughout proceedings.

Romain put in an impressive lap on the hard compound tyre to go fastest in the red flag interrupted Q1 session with Kimi taking P8. The Frenchman then edged a tight intra-team Q2 battle to take P3 from his Finnish counterpart’s P5, with both posting laps within three tenths of one another in the final Q3 session to end the day in P4 / P9.

Kimi Räikkönen, E21-05

Q: P9, 1:31.684

FP3: P8, 1:32.946

“The car has felt much better here than it has in recent races; even if we don’t have a better position on the grid for tomorrow. A small mistake on my quick lap cost me a little bit of time and it’s very close here, so a small amount lost can mean quite a few positions dropped. We’ll have to see what happens in the race, but the car has certainly been more to my liking this weekend so the position on the grid is not a drama.”

Romain Grosjean, E21-04

Q: P4, 1:31.365

FP3: P4, 1:32.707

“The Red Bulls have looked very strong and we knew it would be tight with Lewis [Hamilton] for P3, so I think we did a good job to take P4. The car feels much better than it did yesterday; especially on the hard tyres which we had been struggling with previously but were then fastest with in Q1 today. The team worked hard to address this overnight and we’ve shown great progress through the weekend once again. It’s a tight, technical circuit, the wind is still making things tricky and it should stay pretty hot, so it’ll be interesting to see what we can do in the race. I’m feeling pretty good.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “We’re now very happy on both tyre compounds”

How was qualifying for the team?

Today went reasonably to plan with both drivers in the top ten for tomorrow’s race. Romain continued his good qualifying form and P4 on the grid is a good result, but agonisingly close to P3 once again. It was a very close qualifying session so to have Kimi start P9 is no big drama; especially as we know how well he can work through the field in race conditions.

How much progress has been made since yesterday?

After missing some long runs on Friday, we spent more time on race preparation during morning practice and managed to unlock some extra pace in the car – especially on the primes – so we’re now very happy on both compounds. Yes, we did struggle with the hard tyres yesterday, but we’ve made a significant setup change which has certainly been beneficial in this area. Both drivers are much happier with their cars.

What are the strategic permutations tomorrow?

The weather forecast looks fine, while the wind – which is often a factor here – looks to be coming from a similar direction to today although maybe not as strong. With that in mind – added to our pace on both tyre compounds – we’re confident we can come up with a good strategy for a strong result.