No joy for Lotus ART in the streets of Monaco

With two withdrawals and two finishes outside the points, Lotus ART did not hit the jackpot that it was expecting in the streets outside the Monte Carlo Casino.

Third in qualifying, but starting from the 8th row due to a penalty incurred in Spain the week before, Jules Bianchi was involved with a collision with Giedo Van der Garde in the first race. 25th on the grid in the sprint race, Jules was issued a drive-through penalty for a jump start and crossed the finish line in 19th place. Confusion during Esteban Gutierrez’s pit stop during the feature race prevented him from taking advantage of a good start from the 9th row on the starting grid. The following day, Esteban had to forfeit before the start due to a hydraulic problem.

Jules Bianchi:
“Our losing streak continues, and we have to act quickly because the gap in the championship is widening, although the team actually has everything it needs to compete for the top spots. My qualifying lap was correct although if it weren’t for an error at Sainte-Dévote, I could have had a shot at the pole position. That said, the penalty made me lose five positions on the grid, and starting in 8th I knew that I had to have an excellent start because that is the time you can move up places in Monaco. But errors here are costly and we accumulated them in both races, trying to make up lost ground. We can’t become apathetic; we have to maintain concentration and capitalize on our strengths and take care not to make mistakes. The championship is still long and we have the potential to make a comeback.”

Esteban Gutierrez:
“In qualifying, due to the red and yellow flags, it was very difficult to do a better lap once I got a great one. I tried to start all over again, but I encountered traffic. In the end, being ninth was great. My start was quite good. We reached a very good position but then when I entered the pits I crashed one of our starters left on the way after the incident during the Jules´ pit stop. It destroyed my front wing and I had to come in again for a new wing basically it ruined my weekend. It was one of the hardest races of my entire career and quite an experience. But we did not get the points we deserved. Having
said that, our confidence is growing race after race and I’m optimistic for the next round.”

Frédéric Vasseur:
“The disappointment is as great as our hopes were. During the races, despite a great potential that should have had us battling for a podium, everything went wrong for both our cars. But we can’t fall into the trap of losing confidence because we have all the human and technical strengths we need to raise the bar in the upcoming races.”