Lotus F1 Team has not had the easiest season start this year, but you cannot argue that their results this year aren’t an improvement on last years. Last year the team faced one of their most challenging seasons to date. Romain Grosjean finished in 14th place in the driver standings whilst Pastor Maldonado finished in an even lower 16th place, only just ahead of the back of the field.
Now we have reached the summer break for F1 in 2015 and the Lotus drivers are both in higher positions than they were last year. Pastor Maldonado finds himself in 14th with a total of 12 points. This is a whole 10 points more than he had at the end of last season, once again highlighting the incredible improvements that the team has made this year. Romain Grosjean has made an incredible improvement as he rounds up the top 10 with 23 points compared to last year’s 8 points. These statistics cannot be argued with, Lotus is on the way back up.
The reason behind the huge improvement is much the same as others. The teams are now more familiar with their hybrid power units. Although Formula 1 is one of the leading innovators in motoring, familiarity is never a bad thing. By knowing an aspect of the car, you can learn what needs to change to make the car better. It allows you to fix your faults. This is exactly what Lotus have done. Rather than dwelling on the disappointing season, they have used it as a learning curve. They now know their car and can use its strengths and build on its weaknesses making is ever stronger.
There comes a point in ever F1 team’s season when fans and media begin asking whether they will change their driver line-up. This is especially the case for teams who are in the mid-field or have kept their driver line up the same for more than one season. Lotus fit rather well into both of these categories rather comfortably, so expect them to be mentioned numerous times in the run up to the silly season as the second half of the race calendar commences. Despite all of this speculation to come, one thing is for sure: yes, Lotus has improved but much like other teams, there’s a lot further they can take their car.
Pastor Maldonado: 12 points – 14th Place in the Drivers’ Championship
Aside from team changes and standings so far in the season, there are other things that should be held into account as you read this. The drivers within the team are having some very successful races this season. Some of you may believe that Maldonado is not worthy of mention as you dub him as a man who creates accidents and causes risk. Put your opinions on his past accidents to the side for a moment. In the first half of this season, Pastor Maldonado has had 2 successful races consecutively for the first time in his career. This occurrence is quite the achievement, especially after the struggle he faced upon settling into the team last season. Last year, Lotus was not in the best shape which makes their results this year even more spectacular.
Despite this, the performance from Maldonado has been rather underwhelming, especially when compared to his French teammate, Romain Grosjean. However, Lotus believe Maldonado is going to pull it out of the bag in the second half of this season as he’s more used to the car. For now, we should remain optimistic and stay attentive to Maldonado. Will he prove Lotus right?
Romain Grosjean: 23 points – 10th Place in the Drivers’ Championship
This year Romain Grosjean has consistently outdone his teammate. Call it what you will, experience, talent, determination. Lotus should be thoroughly impressed with the Frenchman who regularly proves how key he is within the team. With every result, he crosses the line with he proves why the racing seat should be his. He fits the team incredibly and is clearly an asset to them. I hope they realise this when other teams begin to battle for him during the approach to next season. His future in Formula 1 is very intriguing.
