Spanish GP Team Review: Lotus

This season, along with Ferrari, all the pundits have their money on the Lotuses, who have showed that they’re up there, on the top, challenging for podiums.

The Enstone-based team saw its drivers put in a decent qualifying session. However, on the race, Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean put in good performances before the latter of two suffered some suspension problems and exited the race. The incident was highly unfortunate for the Swiss-born French international, who was looking to put himself back amongst the leaders with a strong performance in Spain.

Grosjean has managed only podium so far, a 3rd place finish in Bahrain, and apart from that, hasn’t really justified his choice of being selected by Lotus. This race, he was looking good after the aforementioned incident got him all furious as he returned to the pit.

Raikkonen, on the other hand, didn’t put a foot wrong. The Finn was exceptional throughout the race and in the end, did struggle being pressurised with Massa but kept his usual calm head and gave the team in gold and black, a second place finish.

He has now finished on the podium 4 out of 5 times and remains a potential threat to defending champion, Sebastian Vettel.

Lotus brought in some upgrades for the Spanish Grand Prix and just like Ferrari, got it spot on. On the long runs, the cars were unmatchable and he could just brush over the Red Bulls and the Mercs. The Lotus finds a perfect balance in straight-line speed and optimum downforce.

Their only issue is that they eat up the tyres a little faster than Ferrari. Compared to the other teams, the Lotuses are miles ahead in terms of tyre-maintenance but since they’re competing with the likes of Ferrari, they’ll have to work a little harder.

They have an excellent driver line-up in Kimi and Romain, a perfect combination of experience and youth, something that most teams are going for. The two of them have the capabilities to deliver when needed; Kimi has done it all season long and Romain will have to step up as soon as possible.

Along with the rest of the teams, the Lotuses head off to Monaco and they’ll tweak their cars more to take on the challenges posed by the Circuit de Monte Carlo. Last year, the team didn’t do too well in the Grand Prix but this time around, they’re equipped with a better car and they’ll be looking to take the challenge to the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari.

They have struggled in qualifying, just like Ferrari and this is the time to correct that. Monaco’s usual decider is the one who grabs pole-position. Raikkonen hasn’t qualified on pole since his return to the sport and he acknowledged the importance of getting a strong start to the race.