Bahrain 1

[Mark H]

Round two began in scorching temperatures as Esteban Gutiérrez put in a strong qualifying performance to start the feature race on the front row of the grid. The Lotus driver, who was only a tenth shy of pole, was in a strong second place; however a problem with the right rear right tyre in his pitstop left him back in P5. From this point on Esteban drove superbly to fight his way back to the rostrum, finishing third thanks to two stunning overtaking manœuvre, including one on the very last lap!

Starting Sunday’s sprint race in sixth, Esteban had a strong start and was up to P4 by the first turn before fending off Chilton to move into third by the end of the first lap. Esteban then fought his way into the lead and was looking strong for the win, until the final lap when his tyres had degraded significantly after his earlier close battles and he was passed by Davide Valsecchi.

Meanwhile, teammate James Calado was trying to get the maximum out of the new tyre regulations and just like his teammate, opted to save his tyres in qualifying and finished the session early. Settling for eighth place on the grid, he put in a brilliant drive to finish fifth in the feature race. He was one of the first drivers to pit and it paid off, as he was then able to benefit from fresh tyres and was up to 2nd when the pit-stop window closed. However, he dropped off in the final laps when his tyres started to degrade in the sweltering temperatures.

Primed for battle in race two, the young rookie started fourth but stormed to 1st at the start. From there he fought hard against many of the more experienced drivers, but despite his efforts, James slipped back to finish on the third step of the podium, his second in as many meetings.

Esteban and James now sit 3rd and 4th on the championship ladder, while Lotus GP is 2nd in the team’s standings, just 8 points shy of the current leader, DAMS.

Round three will take place this coming Friday and Saturday, held once again at the Bahrain International Circuit where the experience of last weekend will be put to good use as the team and drivers attempt to get an even better understanding of the new tyres.

 

 

 

 

“I did not know the Sakhir circuit and to come to grips with it in practice was essential in order to be well prepared for qualifying. Pole was a realistic target but I was very happy with second position because it was a big step forward after Sepang. Unfortunately, we lost a lot of time in the pits and it cost me six seconds and two or three positions. After that, it was really challenging to make up some lost ground while saving the tyres as much as I could because wear was a big concern at this track. The last laps were really exciting and I am very happy with third place. On Sunday, we made the most out of the start and the first lap. It worked well and I was third after a few kilometers. I fought hard to get into the lead and I opened a big gap, but then I suffered a lot with tyre degradation and there was nothing I could do to keep Davide Valsecchi behind me. Two podium finishes are very good for the team and for the championships. Everything is extremely positive in the team and we know the win will come in time, when we will can control every aspect – tyres, pit-stop, qualifying – with authority. I have no doubt we can do it, sooner rather than later!”

 

 

 

 

“Qualifying was a bit disappointing but I ran through all the data with the engineers and everything looked really positive for the first race. Our strategy was good and I pushed hard to climb to P2 by the end of the pit-stop window. But when you pit early, you have to do a longer last stint so my tyres were dead in the final 5 or 6 laps and I could not keep the promising second position. I decided to take a small risk at the start of the second race and it worked. Unfortunately I had an unidentified problem with the car, especially in the right hand corners. It was frustrating but I fought hard with Esteban to see if I could keep the lead. The answer was no and then I had to let Valsecchi get past as well. All in all a podium finish is good and I'm looking forward to improve in several areas, especially the handling of the car, right in time for next weekend where I can make the best use of the lessons we learnt at Sakhir.”

 

 

 

 

“The level of our performance was good and we can only be satisfied with three podium finishes out of a possible four. The most difficult parameter is the tyres, how to make the best use of them and how to keep them in their best performance window. We improved a lot in qualifying and that's greatly satisfying but we still have to work on the tyre front. Apart from this, we can be happy with our starts, our strategies and our race pace. The team is generally a bit shy at the beginning of the season but this time our positions in both championships are very promising and now we just have to build on them.”

 

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