Grosjean gifted seventh through incidents, Maldonado picks up penalties

Lotus had a day of two halves really. They managed to get points from somewhat of a difficult starting place and a difficult start to the weekend, while Pastor Maldonado clocked up the penalties during the race which ended up as somewhat of a disaster for him.

“I think today was an incredible race; it was an incredible weekend,” said Romain.

“Being in the top ten in qualifying yesterday was a miracle and today was actually beautiful; we really pushed hard and it was good, we deserved some points. I had a terrible start, lost a lot of spaces and I was pushed into the gravel by Carlos Sainz on the first lap. Then I came back on track and couldn’t pass the McLaren. Then there was a penalty for an unsafe release and then the safety car. But we got the strategy right and, after all that, we ended up in P7 fighting with the Mercedes.”

Pastor Maldonado had a completely different day though, having an accident with Sergio Perez which saw him later serve a drive through penalty. He sped in the pit lane getting another drive through penalty, while ten seconds was added for overtaking under the safety car.

“It was tough race and the Stewarts were certainly very strict today, very tough on driving with me and many other drivers,” said Pastor.

“I struggled at the start as our strategy was to run with the harder tyres, but then the strategy was working well with the softer tyres until the penalties affected our race. With Sergio around the outside of me it felt like a racing incident to me; there was nothing intentional in the contact.”

Maldonado in the process of the race penalties also picked up two penalty points on his licence.

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