Romain Grosjean has chosen to take the positives out of Lotus F1 Team’s start to the 2015 Formula 1 season despite failing to score any points in the opening two rounds of the season.
Both Grosjean and teammate Pastor Maldonado qualified well in Australia before being sidelined by first lap issues, whilst incidents for both drivers in Malaysia left them empty handed yet again.
However, Grosjean – who was spun off by Sergio Perez during the race at Sepang – believes that there are plenty of positives to be taken from the team’s performance in Malaysia.
“Generally it was a good weekend with strong performance through the qualifying session, however in the race things didn’t quite work out the way we wanted,” Grosjean said.
“There are still a lot of good positives we take to the next races and when it all comes together it’s going to be very nice.”
Grosjean hopes to open Lotus’ account for the season at the Shanghai International Circuit in ten days’ time, and has fond memories of the track.
“It’s quite a particular circuit where it is not always easy to find the right setup and the temperature can also be cold,” he explained. “You never know what to expect, except that there will be a monster traffic jam to get to the circuit!
“I scored my first Formula 1 points at Shanghai in 2012 and scored points again in 2013 so let’s hope that’s a good omen. Certainly, we’re better placed than when we last visited the track.”
Reflecting on Sebastian Vettel’s shock victory in Malaysia last weekend, Grosjean says that although Ferrari’s victory was good for F1, he expects Mercedes to be way out in front once again in China.
“It was good to see Ferrari win in Malaysia and I think it was good for Formula 1,” the Frenchman said. “They worked well in Malaysia and I think they’ll be a force in the hot races.
“I think China should play more to the Mercedes but we’ll be fighting to do our best and present a challenge too.”
