LOTUS F1 - Spanish GP - Friday Practice

   
Sun Is Shining - 2014 Spanish GP, Friday Friday 9th May

Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado completed a strong day of evaluation runs during the first day of the Spanish Grand Prix. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya provided a delightfully warm backdrop for the opening practice sessions where Pastor ran in the top ten all day although Romain did not have as easy a time finding pace from his E22.
 
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director - Technical programme notes 

  • We evaluated a number of upgrades, principally aerodynamic with both cars running without issue in FP1.
  • Romain ended his last run of the afternoon early after reporting braking concerns.
  • Pastor’s gearbox reported some fluid loss at the end of his afternoon run.
  • Pirelli’s hard (orange) compound tyre was used in the morning, the hard and medium (white) in the afternoon.

What we learned today:                      
-         The latest evolutions to the E22 appear to be beneficial.
-         We have a good basis for further progress tomorrow. 
 
Romain Grosjean, E22-03
Free practice 1: P17, 1:29.944, 21 laps
Free practice 2: P17, 1:29.493, 26 laps
 
Romain: “Today was frustrating as we had quite a few small problems which made it difficult for me to get clean runs and set a good time. This also made it difficult to get the set-up of the car where we want it to be. The positive is that we can see there’s pace in the car from Pastor’s laps. If we can get everything sorted and my car running like it should we could have a good result in qualifying tomorrow.” 
 
Pastor Maldonado, E22-01
Free practice 1: P8, 1:28.744, 34 laps
Free practice 2: P9, 1:27.866, 42 laps
 
Pastor: “The car felt good today and it feels like we’re really making progress. We completed more set-up work and it was great to have a day without any issues. With the programme we were running I didn’t set my fastest laps when the track was quickest, so there’s more to come from the car as it is, as well as from further set-up improvements. It’s great to be running in superb weather conditions and with many Venezuelan fans in the crowd. I have a good feeling about this weekend.”
       
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “We had a good start to the day and were able to assess a lot of our new aerodynamic parts, including the floor and front wing, as well as engine mapping upgrades. Pastor was pretty happy with his car straight away, whilst we had a few niggles with Romain’s car which we’re working on rectifying for tomorrow. We’ve accumulated plenty of data which means a good chunk of work to be done overnight and hopefully more performance on track for qualifying tomorrow.”

Tom Beeler

Tom has been a contributor to RIS since 1992. He was invited to join the staff as a full-time reporter/editor in 1995, and has covered IndyCar, Formula 1, NASCAR, Grand-Am, ALMS and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In addition to his RIS work, Tom has been a contributor for General Motors, Nissan, Toyota and the ACO.

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Volume 2014, Issue 5, Posted 5:02 PM, 05.09.2014