Friday, 3 October 2014

Maldonado handed 10 place grid penalty for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix

Japanese Grand Prix
(Charles Coates for the Lotus F1 Team)

The Lotus F1 Team's Pastor Maldonado will start Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix ten places back from he qualifies after the Venezuelan was handed a ten place grid penalty for using a sixth power unit in Free Practice One in Suzuka.

The 2014 Technical regulations state that team's may only use five power units during the Formula One season.

Maldonado, who has yet to score a point as a Lotus F1 Team driver endured a difficult day in Japan on Friday as in the opening session this morning he finished in 17th place completing 26 laps while in the afternoon session he completed 27 laps.

Speaking about today's on track performance the Lotus F1 Team's Trackside Operations Director Alan Permane stated:

'It was a good solid day for us. Romain ran with a development rear wing in the morning and a regular rear wing in the afternoon to give us some good comparison data. 

Both drivers were reasonably happy with their cars, building on the progress made in Singapore. The fast corners of Suzuka seem to suit us better than many circuits which bodes well for the weekend. We’ve considered the various weather permutations as we conducted today’s programme as it will be intriguing to see what emerges over the weekend.'

© Ben Johnston 2014

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