Q&A with Romain Grosjean - A bit of a strange qualifying session for me

Despite maintaining his near immaculate Q3 attendance record during qualifying for tomorrow’s Korean Grand Prix, Romain is predicting a close race after a tightly run session saw the Frenchman bring his E20 home for a P7 grid slot

Romain ; sum up your afternoon for us ?

It was a bit of a strange qualifying session for me to be honest. In Q1 the car felt nowhere on the prime tyres so we were forced to use a set of the options. In Q2 it was much better, but then again in Q3 it wasn’t fantastic so we need to spend some time analysing what happened. Obviously the track was changing a little bit which affects how the car behaves, but even so there was a noticeable difference between the tyre sets even when they were the same compound so we need to understand why that was.

Do you feel that not having the new exhaust system may have been the difference between yourself and your team-mate today ?

I was a few tenths off Kimi today but it’s impossible to say if the upgrades are a part of that difference as I haven’t tried the new package so I don’t know what effect it would have. Kimi put together a very good lap whereas mine was not fantastic and at the end of the day that’s what it comes down to.

How are you feeling ahead of tomorrow’s race ?

Our race pace yesterday looked good, but so did the Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari so it will be a close race for sure. There will be a lot of attention on my start tomorrow and I think some drivers may try to put pressure on me as they know I’ll be focusing on making a clean getaway, but I know my objectives and I think we’re capable of a good result.

Source : www.lotusf1team.com