Romain Grosjean is looking for another competitive weekend for the Lotus F1 Team at the Sochi Autodrom this weekend after securing a seventh place finished last time out in Japan.
The Frenchman, who announced after the Japanese Grand Prix that he would be heading to the Haas F1 Team for 2016, believes Lotus could have a strong weekend in Russia, and feels the second running of the event can be much better than the first for the team.
“It would be fantastic to shake up the order again and get a really strong result, and that’s honestly what we’re always trying to do,” said Grosjean. “It’s a pretty decent circuit and it will be interesting to see how it’s matured.
“Certainly the track surface will have changed and it will have settled somewhat. We struggled massively for grip last year, but we’ve got a softer tyre allocation from Pirelli, the performance of which we should be better equipped to maximise.
“It’s a pretty cool track actually with a useful number of straights and some big braking. You’ve got turn three which is just about flat out, which is good fun. The corners flow well together with the final section a bit more tight and twisty. Last year was hard to get the tyres working, this year the Pirelli allocation is softer.
“We know what to expect, what the track is going to be like, we know the set-up and what’s needed for a good race. I think it could well be a strong race for the E23.
“It will be a good exercise for us to see if we can give a better performance than our first Russian Grand Prix.”
