Lotus ends its pre-season test programme at Bahrain with a lot of unknowns

Romain Grosjean ended the final day of pre-season testing with 32 laps completed, and a best lap time of 1min 39.302secs at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Romain Grosjean, Lotus F1 E22 stops on the circuit

Photo by: XPB Images

Once more, a power unit problem meant an early stop to running. The team is now focused on maximising the potential of the E22 ahead of the Australian Grand Prix on March 14-16.

Romain Grosjean: “We’re not in an ideal situation. There is a lot of new technology for everyone to understand, but even though we have stopped many times and spent a lot of time in the garage, each time we run the car we are learning something new. We’re all working as hard as we can in Enstone and I’m sure that Renault Sport F1 is doing the same. We now have two weeks to find a lot more performance and reliability.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “We’ve ended our pre-season test programme with a lot of unknowns and a full workload for the days ahead. We’re all focused, both at Enstone and in Viry, on analysing all the data we have gained to make as much improvement as we can before we get to Australia for the first race of the season. Today we put some more mileage on the E22, but once again we stopped early, which is obviously not what we wanted. There will be some long days and nights before the first race but we are determined to make as much progress as possible.”

Fast Facts:

Track: Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain, 5.4km
Chassis: E22-02
Weather: Sunny and cloudy ambient 21-26°C, track 23-36°C
Programme: Further assessment and evaluation.
Laps Completed: 32
Classification: P11, 1:39.302
Interruptions: Software updates. Power unit problem.

Lotus F1 Team