Formula 1

Team Lotus Get Both Cars Home in Germany, Chandhok Endures Difficult Race

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Team Lotus got both cars to the chequered flag at today’s German Grand Prix – Heikki Kovalainen came home in sixteenth but Karun Chandhok was the last of the classified runners in P20 after suffering a couple of spins.

“Good to get both cars home over the line,” was the view of chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne. “Heikki had good pace, particularly on the options and he was able to keep up with the cars ahead throughout most of the race. Karun acquitted himself pretty well, despite having a couple of moments he got on with the job and has definitely learnt a lot from his time in the car here this weekend.

“The whole team has worked very hard to make sure we could have a two car finish, so well done to them and now we can move straight on to Hungary where the aim will be the same – progress little by little and keep moving forward.”

Kovalainen was pleased with his efforts, pointing out that he could not really have done much more today. “I think that was a pretty good race,” said the Finn. “For me everything was working well in the car but honestly it was a bit lonely out there!

“We're not quite with the guys ahead, and we're well clear of the teams behind, so I wanted to make sure I could push as hard as possible over the full race distance, not make any mistakes and get the car home in one piece. We are progressing in the right direction, and it will take time to be able to really fight with the guys in front, but we'll get there.”

Chandhok was not quite as pleased with his race, especially considering it was his big chance to impress the team. “That's a full race distance completed and an awful lot of learning under my belt,” said the Indian, focusing on some positives before talking about his problems at the Nürburgring.

“Honestly, that probably wasn't the race I wanted -I had a couple of high speed spins and I think I need more time to get used to the tyres. When they start to go off there's very little give compared to last year's rubber, but that's all part of the learning process and I'm glad I got the car home and did the best job I could.”

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David is an occasional contributer to the site on matters related to Formula 1. You can follow him on twitter at @Dr_Bean.
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