Lotus F1 Team
Romain Grosjean says he is encouraged by Lotus's E23 Hybrid after he sampled the car for the first time on the final day of the Jerez test.
Grosjean posted the sixth quickest time and accrued 53 laps before the power unit shut down, forcing the Frenchman to abandon running for the rest of the day.
But despite his truncated day the Frenchman was upbeat over Lotus' package.
"My first impressions of the E23 Hybrid are good," he said. "Both the power unit and the chassis are going in the right direction.
"I completed over 50 laps today and I can honestly say that all of them were enjoyable to drive. The team has made very good progress if you consider where we were this time last year. It’s a very good start and I’m a happy driver."
Technical Director Nick Chester was also positive over Lotus' progress.
"Even though it’s been an early end to our final day of running in Jerez, we’ve made fantastic progress over the past few days," he said.
"We fired up the E23 Hybrid for the first time at Enstone last Saturday night, ran it for the first time on Monday, then completed a very useful haul of laps over the course of the test. Both Romain and Pastor [Maldonado] have declared themselves happy with the car and we have a clear direction for future developments."
