Team Lotus drivers Heikki Kovalainen, Jarno Trulli and Karun Chandhok admit that “it's always difficult in weather like this to get anything meaningful done.” Yet the team remain confident that even in a wet qualifying condition tomorrow they should do well.
Test driver Chandhok stepped into Kovalainen's car this morning and admitted that despite a little run he enjoyed the session and felt like he got the most he could out of it. “It's good to have been back in the car and despite the weather I enjoyed my time out there today… as it was a bit of a stop-start session for everyone I pretty much did as much as I could today.”
Kovalainen had similar to say and as always was showing how much the team and him care about the spectators, “Tomorrow should be interesting – it looks like rain but we've always done pretty well in qualifying in the changeable conditions so let's see what we can do with strategy tomorrow afternoon – whatever happens I'm sure it'll be a good session for the fans!”
Trulli, the only driver to complete both sessions, said that in many ways it had been useful “we managed to get through most of what we wanted on the tyres, engine and setup and I think we're ok for quali when it looks like it'll be similar weather. One good point is that we were trouble-free in all the runs today so I think it's important we keep that up all weekend and give ourselves a chance to be in the mix if anything happens in qualifying or the race.” Seemingly serious as always.
Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne supported the ideas of the drivers that the sessions were displaying true Spa conditions saying, “Karun did a solid job for us and ran some aero checks early on, but then the rain brought an end to any meaningful running in his session. This afternoon, although Heikki wasn't able to complete his run on the softs we still managed to complete a run on the mediums for him and Jarno did get through some laps on the softs so at least we have banked some time on track on both compounds.”
Riad Asmat, Group CEO who was seen in good spirits on the pit wall laughing away the rain said “It is good to be back racing and to see that the whole team has come back from the break raring to go. There is a good spirit in the garage and everybody is determined to make sure we work as hard as we can to consolidate tenth place and take whatever opportunities present themselves, particularly on a track like Spa where the weather conditions may mean we can use strategy and a bit of luck to take the fight to the cars ahead.”
