Romain Grosjean confirmed Lotus’s pre-season pace by securing third on the grid for Sunday’s Australian GP, beating everyone but the McLaren drivers.
The Frenchman (born in Switzerland) couldn’t hide his smile in the FIA press conference after qualifying and understandably so. The Lotus driver will start third on his return to Formula 1 after a two-year absence.
“Fantastic job from everybody,” he said. “It’s really nice to be back in Formula 1 and today I’m very proud of this performance from Lotus.
“I’m back, almost at the top and I hope we can keep going that way all season-long. In the end it would be a nice story.”
When asked where his speed had come from, considering his teammate Kimi Raikkonen failed to get out of Q1, he replied: “A little bit of everywhere. A bit of myself coming out – I am discovering the track in drier conditions – and the car works very well.
“If we can manage to bring some bits to every race and then hopefully we can get between the guys in the front.
“It is not a dream, we did it, and tomorrow we can work to get the best in the race and the next races as well.”
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