Team Lotus pleased with race performance
Both Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen enjoyed a good race at Spa-Francorchamps. Despite a tangle-up in the first corner after the start and the time loss with the obvious car damage, both car's pace was good and at the finish line they were 14th and 15th.
Jarno Trulli, Car 21 - Chassis T128-01:
“For me and the whole team that was a really good race. I had a great start, passing a few other cars away from the line but then the accident in T1 meant both Heikki and I suffered damage – him to his nosecone, me to the floor and I had to run the whole race with that damage, so to finish 14th after that is just fantastic. Apart from the start I enjoyed the whole race – I passed a number of cars and when the safety car came out I was able to close the gap to the cars ahead. That gave me the chance to fight with the Renault and I passed him and was then able to keep pace with the other guys ahead. One of the best points of the race was the first stop I made – I came in just behind one of the HRTs and the pitcrew did a brilliant job to get me out fast enough to pass him in the pitlane, so I want to thank them and the whole team for a really solid weekend. Racing like this, with no problems and with a car I can fight with all afternoon is very satisfying, so now I can’t wait to get back in when we get to Italy and keep up the momentum we’ve built up here.”
Heikki Kovalainen, Car 20 - Chassis T128-04:
“That was a good race for us, obviously apart from the start! I got off the line well but it all tightened up at the first corner and I touched Jarno after someone else had hit me – I was caught in a bit of a sandwich but after I’d pitted and had a new nose it all went pretty well from there. The soft tyres weren’t working quite as well as the mediums, but I was still able to push and the main thing is we had a two car finish in strong positions, so that’s a good end to the weekend.”
Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader:
“We can be very pleased with the result today. Our race performance was good and we were able to show that the setups we had worked on in the practice sessions were right for today, giving us the chance to fight and manage the tyres well all afternoon. We enjoy races like this!"
Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer:
“That is a very good result for the whole team today and goes down as one of our strongest performances since we came into the sport. We had a poor start where both cars were last after making contact in the first corner but we recovered very well, and to have finished in 14th and 15th after that is very pleasing. Both drivers were excellent today, but the pitcrew deserve special praise for having taken a massive step forward in their performance. All our stops were exactly what we needed so congratulations to them for a job very well done today.”
Riad Asmat, Group CEO:
"I want to thank the whole team for today’s performance, and the jobs everyone has done all weekend. The main aim was to make sure both cars saw the chequered flag, and we wanted to be in the mix to take advantage of any opportunities that presented themselves and finish as high as we could reasonably expect. 14th and 15th means we achieved that, and everyone played their part in making sure we leave Spa on a high, so this goes down as a very good weekend.”
