Lotus leave Monza disappointed

(Glenn Dunbar for the Lotus F1 Team)

Following a disappointing qualifying session yesterday the Lotus F1 Team headed into this afternoon's final European race of the season, the Italian Grand Prix with high hopes of moving forward however unfortunately for the Enstone based outfit it was not to be as both Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean struggled.

Maldonado is still looking for his first world championship points as a Lotus driver as he came home in 14th place just behind the Toro Rosso of Jean Eric Vergne. Speaking after the race the Venezuelan commented:

'I made a good start and a strong first lap which gave me a better position than on the grid as I was able to get past the Saubers. 

From there I tried to attack the Toro Rosso ahead of me, but their configuration for the straights was too much to overcome. This meant we were running at a consistent pace without any fear from the cars behind, but equally without pace in the right place to attack the cars ahead. It was quite uneventful today but good to get to the finish line.'

Romain Grosjean who has yet confirm his plans for the 2015 season started this afternoon's race from 18th place on the grid and went on to finish 16th just behind the Sauber F1 Team's Adrian Sutil. Grosjean remains the only points scorer for the team this season and heads to the Singapore night race in two weeks time hoping for a step forward. Speaking following today's race the Frenchman said:

'I had a dreadful start and was last by the first corner. I was on the hard tyres for the first stint and this made it difficult to fight back. I’m not sure what happened with Esteban [Gutierrez]. 

He was overtaking me, but then under braking he moved over on to me. My front wing was where he was trying to be so we touched.  Not too much damage for me, but he had a puncture as a result. Certainly, I don’t think the tracks we will visit next will be as challenging for us as this one has been.'

Following today's Grand Prix the Enstone outfit remain in eighth place in the Constructors championship on eight points while their closest rivals the Toro Rosso also missed out on a points scoring finish with Daniil Kvyat coming home in 11th place while Jean Ric Vergne finish the race in 13th place.

The Lotus F1 Team's Trackside Operations Director, Alan Permane was disappointed with how th weekend went for the team sying:

'Fourteenth isn’t where we want to finish but today’s race did give us some signs of encouragement. Pastor’s pace was much closer to that of the cars in front of us, and he drove an exemplary race. 

Both cars were reliable although Romain lost a part of his sidepod and also experienced some downshift issues later in the race which hurt him in the very important braking zones here. We’ve taken another small step in understanding the car this weekend which helps us for the next races.'

Deputy team principal Frederico Gastaldi summed up the teams weekend by saying:

'We saw a very strong race today from Pastor who didn’t put a foot wrong and extracted the maximum from our current package. Romain’s race was a little more difficult but he drove around the small issues he experienced to bring his car home too. Monza has certainly been a difficult venue for us this year; let’s hope for better results in Singapore.'

© Ben Johnston 2014