Difficult day for Lotus in Spa

(Charles Coates for the Lotus F1 Team)

The Lotus F1 Team endured another difficult race weekend as both Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado suffered a double DNF at today's Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francorchamps circuit. Romain Grosjean started the race from the race from 15th place on the grid and pitted at the end of the first lap to change tyre's. He retired from the race after picking up debris on track which caused damage to the car and speaking afterwards the Frenchman said:

'The car was pretty good; the pace was much better than expected, which is encouraging. Unfortunately the race was compromised early on, we had to change the nose on the first lap and we picked up some damage later on from debris on the track. We lost a lot of downforce as a result so we retired the car. We’re moving forward every weekend and learning a lot, though Monza is likely to be challenging too. Singapore should suit us a lot better.'

It was a disappointing day at the office for team mate Pastor Maldonado who suffered his fourth retirement of the season following power unit failure at the end of the first lap. The Venezuelan who recently signed a new contract with the Enstone based outfit for the 2015 season is still searching for his first points as a Lotus driver commented after the race by saying:

'We were expecting a tough weekend – both here and Monza are challenging tracks for us – although the car seemed competitive and consistent today. It might have been possible to fight with Sauber and Force India during the race. Unfortunately I felt a big loss of power at the end of the first lap and saw in the mirrors that the engine was smoking a lot so we had to retire.'

The Lotus F1 Team have been extremely unfortunate so far this season with a number of different issues with the car causing problems for the team but they have an extremely strong and talented workforce in Enstone and they will get back to competing for points and podiums on a regular basis but it is just going to take some time. 

Lotus deputy team principal Frederico Gastaldi is hopeful that the team will be able to turn things around in the next few Grand Prix following an 'unfortunate' weekend in Belgium. He said:

'It was highly unfortunate that we had to retire both cars today. There is pace and the team is working extremely hard to extract every ounce of performance. We will regroup between now and Monza of course, and do everything we can to improve further. We’ll also keep looking for that pot of good luck.'

Track Operations Director at Lotus, Alan Permane summed up the weekend by saying:

'A tough race. Romain sustained damage at the first corner, which meant we had to change the front wing at the end of that lap. We opted for the prime tyres and he was actually running very strongly from then on, although obviously a long way back. Unfortunately, he picked up some damage after his final pit stop which made the car a real handful for him – he radioed in that the car was dangerous, so the only sensible thing to do was retire. Pastor suffered from what looks to be an exhaust failure early on in the race. We’re investigating both cars to understand what happened.'

Renault Sport F1 Track side support leader Simon Rebreyend is confident that the team will be able to turn things around for the next race, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in two weeks time by saying:

'We knew Spa would be difficult but we fell short of our expectations this weekend. Pastor suffered an exhaust failure soon after the start, while the team had to retire Romain’s car due to a bodywork issue. We’ll look to Monza now and hope for better.'

Although it has been an extremely difficult weekend for the team Lotus remain in 8th place in the Constructors championship on 8 points ahead of the Marussia F1 Team, Sauber and Caterham however they will be hoping for a better run of form from the next Grand Prix onwards.

© Ben Johnston 2014