Yesterday in an interview with Autosport, Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado is confident Lotus will overcome their current lean patch and return to the top 10 during the latter half of the campaign.
Lotus has scored eight points this season through Maldonado’s team mate Romain Grosjean. But the team have now gone five races without finishing in the top 10 and many believe that theme will continue at the next two races in Belgium and Italy as the E22 is not suited to those tracks.
In his interview Autosport yesterday, Maldonado believes that the Lotus will soon be challenging higher up the grid again. Maldonado stated the following:-
‘Forget about Spa and Monza, but if we go to a track where the engine is not very important, we will be fighting for the top 10. Maybe we are not the quickest, but we are in a good position. The car is much better, we have found a better balance and I’m also more confident because I know the team better.’
From what Maldonado has stated in his interview, it is clear that Lotus has an awful lot of work to do in order to close the gap to their rivals and I don’t see a major improvement until 2015. It would seem over the past few races that Lotus have been making progress but at a slower rate than their rivals and I believe that Maldonado saying they are in a good position is a bit far-fetched.
Whenever I see the car on the track, I find the E22 to be unbalanced and a handful for the drivers who are trying to extract pace and performance from it. But if Maldonado feels that they are heading in the right direction with the car being better balanced, then it must be a good thing and great motivation for the Lotus team that they desperately need.
So far this season, Maldonado has only once outqualified his team mate Grosjean. But at the Austrian GP, it was the only time he finished ahead of his team-mate in a race in which both have seen the chequered flag. Further on in his interview, Maldonado has stated that the mechanical problems have played a major role in him not being able to finish a race. Maldonado added the following:-
‘I am often ahead of my team-mate when the car is not broken. He’s a quick driver, very experienced, he has more experience with the team as well and we are learning from each other, which is very important.’
There is no question that Grosjean is a driver that I and the fans rate very highly indeed, he is without a question going to be a Grand Prix winner soon enough and in the near future a world champion. With the experience that Grosjean has in the Lotus team, it will only help Maldonado has he settles further into the team and also will learn from him too.
But with regards to Maldonado, I have stated a few times that I feel he is just not talented enough to be at Lotus, never mind in Formula One. But I will concede that when he has the opportunity to deliver, he grabs the opportunity and beats his team mate in the process.
But I feel that this season that Grosjean quite simply has outclassed Maldonado more times than he has outperformed Grosjean. You may say that it is because he has been with Louts longer than Maldonado and it’s a fair point. But I just feel that Maldonado (even though he has won a race and all credit to him for that) when Lotus get their act together and provide both of their drivers the tools to perform, Maldonado will not do so.
But overall, as for Maldonado stating that the latter stage of the season could be fruitful for them, I’m unsure about this. It is clear that Lotus are just not competitive enough this season; plain and simple. They have been making slow steps to improve, but their rivals have also improved and in some cases extended the gap that they have over them.
All that Maldonado and the Lotus team can do is ensure that they keep improving the car as much as they can until the end of the season and if they are in the position to grab some points, they have to grab the chance with both hands. But will Lotus be able to extend their tally in the Constructors Championship in the second half of the season as Maldonado believes? We will have to wait and see what happens!
