Lotus Racing Disappoints In Homecoming Malaysian Grand Prix

Lotus Racing had a disappointing day at the Malaysian GP, even though both cars managed to cross the finishing line. Jarno Trulli was placed 17th and Heikki Kovalainen was considered unclassified, with both involved in track scuffles that affected their race.

Positioned 15th on the starting grid, Kovalainen's attempted pass on Virgin's Lucas di Grassi early on caused his car a left rear puncture, requiring a pit stop on lap 12. The Lotus encountered a hydraulics problem 20 laps later, meaning yet another pit stop.

Kovalainen was able to look on the bright side of things, however. “It was still a very positive race for us, despite the issues”, Kovalainen said. “Compared to the other new teams, our times are very competitive indeed, so I am not going to let this race trouble me—we learned a lot and now we will move on and look ahead to China”.

Trulli, who started 18th on the grid, performed better to finish at 17th, but his race was marred by Virgin's Timo Glock, who spun into the Lotus after a failed overtaking attempt. “We made a good start, but then on the second lap I was hit by Glock, which made me spin, and from then on my race was compromised”, Trulli said.

Mike Gascoyne, Lotus Racing's Chief Technical Officer, admitted that the team was expecting a better result, but chose to focus on the many positives: “So it was disappointing, but at least we managed to get two cars to the flag”.

“We are still in 10th place in the Constructors' Championship and still finishing races”, Gascoyne added. “We are looking forward. For Barcelona, and every race, there will be new bits and we are not looking backward, we are moving forward”.