LOTUS F1 - Monaco GP - Thursday Practice

I Think It's Gonna Rain Today - 2014 Monaco GP, Thursday

Thursday 22nd May 

Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado completed a good morning of practice followed by a limited afternoon of track time during the first day of the Monaco Grand Prix. The streets of Monte Carlo were dry for the morning where a total of 71 laps were completed by both drivers, however heavy rainfall at lunchtime meant most of the afternoon session was spent in the garage whilst the track dried.  
 
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director - Technical programme notes 

• We evaluated a number of upgrades, principally aerodynamic with both cars running without issue in FP1.
• Pirelli’s soft (yellow) compound tyre was used in the morning, the super soft (red) in the afternoon.

What we learned today:                      

• The latest evolutions to the E22 appear to be working.
• We have a good basis for further progress on Saturday. 

Romain Grosjean, E22-03
Free practice 1: P13, 1:20.207, 33 laps
Free practice 2: P16, 1:21.700, 6 laps
 
Romain: “This morning was a learning experience as the tyres are pretty hard here so it’s difficult to find enough grip. This made things a little tricky today as there’s no space for mistakes here. Certainly the car is working well and we could run through a decent programme today, even with missing a lot of the afternoon session because of the wet track. We hope the weather will be better on Saturday and we will have found a better balance with the car too.” 
 
Pastor Maldonado, E22-01
Free practice 1: P14, 1:20.241, 38 laps
Free practice 2: P14, 1:20.977, 7 laps
 
Pastor: “It was disappointing in the afternoon as we planned to run more and test more parts of the car but we wouldn't have learnt what we wanted to learn with a wet track. We did at least get some laps at the end of the session with the super soft tyre which means we do have a comparison between the two compounds. The morning went well, even if the track’s not yet 100%. We have a good amount of data so we can prepare for Saturday and qualifying which is so important here.”
       
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “It was a steady day for us. Our priority was to learn about the E22 and tyres at this very particular track which we were able to do in the morning. We sat out much of the afternoon session due to the wet track, only running at the end where neither driver managed to get a lap clear of traffic. We have a lot of data to work on and I’m sure we will look a lot more competitive come Saturday.”