07/06/2015
NEWS STORY
Lotus F1 Team moved into fifth position in the FIA Formula 1 Constructors' Championship after a strong Canadian Grand Prix where Pastor Maldonado finished seventh and Romain Grosjean tenth at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Romain had been running in seventh before contact passing a backmarker meant an additional pit stop and time penalty. Pastor's seventh position represents his first points of the year.
Romain started from P5 on the grid on his qualifying super soft compound tyres, changing to new soft tyres on laps 27 and 49. A five-second time penalty was added to his race time, but it did not affect his tenth-place finish.
Pastor started from P6 on the grid on his qualifying super soft tyres, changing to new soft tyres on lap 17.
Romain Grosjean: "It was good for the team to get both cars in the points. Unfortunately, that car didn't feel as strong as it did in qualifying but I was able to push nevertheless. It can be difficult with traffic here and I was held up a few times even when there were blue flags. I thought I was past the Manor, but it was soon clear that I wasn't. It was my fault entirely and I apologise for it. You never stop learning as a driver."
Pastor Maldonado: "Finally, here we are in the points! I think now we've started scoring there's potential for this to be a great season for us as we have really good pace. It was a good race. We had to pit quite early to gain the place against Nico Hulkenberg which made the later part of the race quite tricky and I couldn't defend later on as a consequence. I'm pleased for the team that we got both cars in the points; let's continue like this."
Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: "It was a happy day for us. Pastor scored his first points of the season after driving a strong and measured race and Romain was in the points too even if it was in a more eventful manner. For Pastor this should be a turning point for his season and with thank all his supporters in Venezuela and PDVSA for their faith in us. Both cars scoring points is always our target and we want more of the same for the rest of the year."
Nick Chester, Technical Director: "That was pretty good. Pastor drove strongly and consistently with a long second stint for seventh place. Romain should have finished further up were it not for the rub with the Manor but the weekend overall has been positive. We ran well in qualifying and if anything lost a little bit of pace in the race, which is something we'll be studying ahead of our visit to Austria. All things considered, we have a good platform for the races ahead."
Check out our Sunday gallery, here.