Grosjean: The team did a great job to turn things around

Romain put in a strong performance during his first ever qualifying session at the Shanghai International Circuit and will start in P10; but in typical fashion the Frenchman is already aiming further up the grid for tomorrow’s race.

Romain, after a difficult day yesterday you must be pleased to have made it through to Q3?

To be honest, I have mixed feelings after today’s session. We struggled a bit on Friday so from that perspective it’s great to have both cars in Q3, but unfortunately during my first run in Q2 I overheated the rear tyres which made the car difficult to handle and lead to a poor lap time. I was expecting more grip from the track but it got cooler as the day went on and I just pushed a little bit too much. This meant we were forced to use my last fresh set of tyres to get through to Q3. There was no point trying to set a competitive time on scrubbed tyres in the pole position shoot-out, which is a real shame as our pace in Q2 was good. The positive news is that by not setting a lap we kept some extra tread on the tyres, and they look in good shape for tomorrow’s race.

With the car not behaving as predicted and a new circuit to learn, it must have been quite tough going for you this weekend so far?

There have been a few challenges for sure but I’m lucky to have a great group of people around me to make things easier. I feel much more comfortable with the car and I think that showed in the lap times today. The team did a great job to turn things around and get us back towards the top where we should be. I was pleased to be able to learn the new track quite quickly, but of course you always want more. It’s not an easy place to get right, especially the first corner which seems to go on forever and closes very tightly. I still have some fine tuning to do but 56 laps in tomorrow’s race will certainly help that! I think the main positive we can take is that we’re not too far away from the cars in front, which is a good sign for the race tomorrow.

Such an evenly matched grid should make for an exciting race; realistically what would be the ideal result for you?

Well the ideal result would always be a win! This is the tightest battle we’ve had so far this season to get into Q3. You only have to look at where Sebastian (Vettel) finished to see how close the grid was today. Nico (Rosberg) put in a great lap, but that’s not a surprise as the Mercedes has been fast all season. Their problem so far seems to have been overheating tyres, so the colder conditions here will have suited them better. Hopefully tomorrow will be warmer and the advantage will swing back our way. My main priority tomorrow is to get a decent start, overtake a few of the guys in front and take home some good points. We’ll be working hard again tonight to make sure the car is how we want it, and hopefully we’ll find some more speed for the race.

Source : www.lotusf1team.com