The Lotus F1 Team continued their tough run of races at the Hungaroring, with another race going by without the team adding to their points tally. Pastor Maldonado was thirteenth in the Hungarian Grand Prix, but Romain Grosjean was an early retirement after spinning into the wall.
Maldonado was the solitary finisher for the team, but admitted struggling for grip throughout the race. He also survived a moment into turn one when he under-steered into the side of the Marussia of Jules Bianchi that saw the Venezuelan pit for a new nose cone.
“It was a tough race for us,” said Maldonado. “It was a struggle to find enough grip and the track surface was very slippery.
“We didn’t always have full power, which certainly added to the challenge in what was already a pretty difficult race with the changeable conditions. We weren’t able to close in on the cars ahead along the straight which made it hard to overtake, and there aren’t many places to overtake around here.”
Team-mate Grosjean was an early retiree in Hungary when trying to warm his newly fitted dry tyres up, hit a wet patch and spun into the barriers just after the exit to turn three while running behind the safety car, which was forced to stay out with the Lotus stranded in the middle of the circuit.
“The conditions on the circuit this afternoon were very tricky and we couldn’t get the best out of the tyres,” said Grosjean. “We made the right call to move to slicks when the safety car came out – like most of the grid did – but I made a mistake when I was trying to keep the tyres warm. Unfortunately, I touched the white line and spun and that was it.
“I feel very sorry for everyone in the team who are giving everything they can to give me the best car possible. We didn’t finish the race today which is very disappointing.”
