Pastor Maldonado has spoken of the good feeling at Lotus F1 Team heading into next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix following a breakthrough result in Belgium seven days ago.
Romain Grosjean charged to the team’s first podium finish in almost two years at Spa last weekend, finishing behind Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
Maldonado was unable to match his teammate’s result after suffering a 17G impact with the curb at Eau Rouge that caused his car to shut off after just three laps.
Nevertheless, the Venezuelan driver feels upbeat ahead of the next race at Monza in one week’s time.
“I am really looking forward to Monza this year,” Maldonado said. “We’ve shown our car to be pretty good through the speed traps this season and Monza is where you want to be as fast as possible in a straight line.
“Coming off the back of our performance in Spa it’s going to be really interesting to see how we go; I have a good feeling.”
Maldonado conceded that he was disappointed not to make the finish at Spa, particularly in light of Grosjean’s result, but hopes to make up for it next weekend.
“Of course, it’s frustrating not to finish any grand prix, but it was particularly so in Belgium as we really had potential to go well,” Maldonado said.
“Romain did a great job to finish on the podium and I started my race ahead of him on the grid. We know what is possible and our car should go well in Monza.
“I would love to score a very strong result in Italy as I have so many fans there.”