In a exciting first race at the Mexican Grand Prix since 1992, Lotus F1 Team driver Romain Grosjean finished in tenth, securing one championship point, just ahead of team-mate Pastor Maldonado.
With an early overtake by his team-mate Maldonado, the battle was on between the two Lotus drivers, with Grosjean emerging ahead of the Venezuelan driver after the first pit stops, with the duo rarely far apart for the rest of the race.
“It’s good to score, even if it was only one point,” said Grosjean. “It was a long race and not easy as there was a lot to manage.
“The safety car meant it was too risky not to come in and that meant finishing the race on the soft compound. This weekend was all about finding the grip and the track was definitely improving massively throughout the race.
“I think next year will be even more fun to drive once the grip has improved.”
Maldonado finished just 0.6 seconds behind his team-mate, just missing out scoring points for the fourth Grand Prix in a row.
“Our race was pretty good and it was great to cross the finish line to so many cheers and still pushing hard to pass Romain,” said Maldonado. “I expected to struggle more with the brakes but everything was under control, so I’m disappointed not to be in the points after what was a strong race from us.
“I made a good start, but we lost time at the first pit stop. It was pretty tough at the end trying to overtake; I was a few tenths faster than Romain but it is tough to pass here. I missed a braking point at turn 12 late on, but my battle to beat him was lost in through traffic in the pits.”
