24/10/2015
NEWS STORY
Lotus F1 Team endured a soggy waiting game at the Circuit of the Americas with a very wet FP3 and a much delayed and ultimately postponed qualifying session. Qualifying is now scheduled for 9am tomorrow morning at the track.
Romain Grosjean: "Many years ago as part of the Renault Driver Development programme I enjoyed surfing as part of the training. This would have been really useful had we tried to qualify today! The weather was pretty extreme and I really feel for all the fans who braved the elements to come watch us. I hope we're able to put on a fantastic show for everyone tomorrow."
Pastor Maldonado: "There's nothing you can do about the weather and it's been a pretty long day waiting to see if the weather would improve. We got some laps in the morning and it was very slippery on track. I definitely think it was the correct decision not to run, but I'm sorry that everyone at the track had a wasted day."
What does a Sunday morning qualifying mean for the team?
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: It will make for a busy race day. The weather is predicted to be better tomorrow, however there's still a chance of rain. It's going to be important for both cars to come through qualifying with minimal issues as there will only be a short time between qualifying and the race. We saw a Sunday morning qualifying last in Australia a couple of years ago so it's not an alien concept.
What are the considerations for tomorrow's race?
AP: We have less time to work on strategy permutations based on starting position and we don't have much dry run data. If it's wet there are the usual wet weather considerations. We certainly are looking forward to the race and we have a good opportunity for points.
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