Romain Grosjean’s return to Formula 1 is becoming increasingly impressive in the wake of his first ever F1 podium finish, in Bahrain, now the Frenchman has been praised by Lotus technical boss for the work he carried out for the team during testing at Mugello.
Grosjean was given two days, out of three, in the Lotus E20 cockpit at Mugello with the team opting not to run 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen at the Ferrari owned venue.
Technical director James Allison was asked how he rated Grosjean’s testing feedback, he responded, “When carrying out testing of this nature, you need a driver who can produce a consistent level of performance at the limit of what the car is capable of. It’s essential to have both elements – consistency and speed. The speed ensures that the car is being tested in representative conditions, and the consistency ensures that any variations in performance from the car are down to the changes made in the garage rather than errors from the driver. Romain is very strong in providing both of these characteristics, giving us an ideal baseline to engineer more pace into the car.”
Allison added, “It’s always nice to be nearer the front of the field than the back, and the E20 continues to show encouraging pace at every circuit we visit. We seem to do well on circuits with a good number of aerodynamically demanding corners, an abrasive track surface, and warm temperatures. Barcelona should provide these elements, so we are hopeful of making a good showing.”
Grosjean, who topped the timing screens at the end of both days in Italy, echoed Allison’s sentiments, “We were conducting a specific programme of evaluating components, so to be quick relative to our opposition even when we were not looking specifically to try to top the times is satisfying.”
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