After becoming Lotus from Renault in 2012; Lotus became race winners once again with Kimi Raikkonen on the Finn’s F1 return. After Raikkonen left the team for Ferrari in 2014, their driver line-up for the new season featured Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado. But after two wins in two seasons, Lotus were in for their worst beginning to a Formula 1 season, and the future, did not look good.
After they were given stick about their driver line-up, Lotus soon realised that it wouldn’t be new car parts they would be focusing on, but rather getting their cars just to the chequered flag.
After a very poor pre-season testing, Lotus said their main aim for the season opener in Australia was simply to get to the finish, one year on from their victory there. But their objective failed and then they realised the real size of the mountain they had to climb. Picking up their first points of the season at Spain, and then equalling that performance in Monaco, it seemed like Lotus had possibly found their ways. Although they had the high of Grosjean finishing in 8th, second driver Pastor Maldonado never even started the race. It could possibly have been an even better result. Since then, a highest finishing position of 12th was not what the team would have had in mind.
Also in bother with severe debt, it seems as though nothing can go right for a struggling Lotus team.
After numerous retirements, crashes and complaints from Romain Grosjean, it does not seem as though Lotus are close to solving any of their issues that have curtailed their entire 2014 campaign. For the team, drivers and their fans, this 2014 season finale cannot come soon enough.
Romain Grosjean 8 points/14th in Drivers Championship
After a crash fuelled 2012 season, Romain Grosjean came out fighting in 2013 to prove to everyone he is top class racing driver, who deserves his seat in Formula 1. After several podiums and a chance of a race win in Japan, the Frenchman may be forgiven for thinking that the 2014 rule changes may have helped his chances, to get that first race win.
Unfortunately for Grosjean, it has been anything but that. A highest finish of 8th has summed up quite a disappointing year. On many occasions, Grosjean has not been shy of venting his frustration with the Lotus car on the team radio. All of this frustration has raised speculation about where he could end up for next season. Lotus have said they want to keep Grosjean for a fourth successive season, but the man himself has made no comment on where he wants to race next season. Maybe Lotus could be his only option…
Minus the crashes, once Grosjean is able to make it past the first lap, he is not a bad bet for a strong result. But, such has been the struggles of the Lotus E22, it just has not come together in 2014.
Grosjean has proved on several occasions that he is a capable driver of strong race finishing positions, but 2014 has been a season that may have just pushed him that one bit too far. Where could he end up for 2015? Grosjean has recently said that he doesn’t know where he will be in 2015, but is ‘99.9% more confident that will Lotus will be a much better team’.
It has been a tough season for Grosjean, but maybe his confidence for next season will pay off.
Pastor Maldonado 0 points/19th in Drivers Championship
It has been a season of mixed fortunes for Pastor Maldonado. The Venezuelan joined from Williams after three tough seasons [despite a win in 2012] and would have been hoping to show his true potential at Lotus. A driver that has never been the most popular in the paddock, often labelled as “Crashtor;” when it was announced that he was to drive for Lotus due to a very large financial backing, once again, the ‘abuse’ for Maldonado started.
After sending Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez flipping through the air during the Bahrain GP, it seemed as though the Mexican wanted payback at July’s British GP. Both drivers made contact, similar to the at in Bahrain which sent Maldonado flying into the air, but unlike Gutierrez, he managed to not roll over. If anything, this has been Maldonado’s highlight of 2014.
After being at the bottom of the drivers championship, Maldonado never seemed close to really securing any points for the team. But he eventually lifted himself up to 19th, and after four straight race finishes, maybe the future is bright? Despite still having no points to his name. It has been a very tough season for Maldonado, but after being secured by Lotus for 2015, can next season be any different? At the moment, both Lotus and Maldonado have a long road ahead of them before they can return to the top step of the podium.
Grosjean has completely outperformed Maldonado, and after securing the teams only points this season at Spain and Monaco, some may be wondering, and quite surprised that the team have opted for Maldonado. It seems Maldonado’s substantial financial backing was enough to persuade Lotus then…
A highest finishing position of 12th means that there is not much that the Venezuelan can take away from the first part of this epic 2014 F1 season, but can part two be any better?
Race finishing positions:
Grosjean is the top row with Maldonado being the second row.
| AUS | MAL | BAH | CHI | SPA | MON | CAN | AUS | BRI | GER | HUN | |
| DNF | 11 | 12 | DNF | 8 | 8 | DNF | 14 | 12 | DNF | DNF | |
| DNF | DNF | 14 | 14 | 15 | DNS | DNF | 12 | 17 | 12 | 13 |
Performance comparison:
| Romain Grosjean | Pastor Maldonado | |
| Qualified ahead | 9 | 2 |
| Average qualifying gap | -1.251s | +1.251s |
| Finished race ahead | 3 | 1 |
| Laps spent ahead | 203 | 159 |
Struggling with Renault power and the ability to get both cars to the finish of a race, Lotus have a lot of work ahead of them during the summer break if they are to come back fighting during the second half of the season.
Having one of the most unreliable cars on the grid, and also using a power unit that is underpowered on others; with circuits coming up that require a strong power unit, it looks as though Lotus may struggle after the summer break. But who’s to say the rest of the season cannot be bright? The future can only be bright for Lotus, but sadly, it looks as though they’ve got a lot road ahead of them, before they can be fighting for victories, once more.
