Karun Chandhok apologises after crash as Lotus say real pace of car not revealed yet – Formula 1
Karun Chandhok, who crashed the Lotus’ car on his first run, stated that the tyres were not hot enough and the car got out of control.
On the other hand, Mike Gascoyne, technical chief of team Lotus, has stated that the real strength of the car has not been revealed yet.
Karun Chandhok was recently signed by the Lotus team as a reserve driver. He took the car out for the first time in the Melbourne First Practice 1 and crashed the car on turn four of his second lap.
He said, “I'm obviously disappointed to have had such a short run for my first time in the Team Lotus car, but I put my hands up to it and totally accept it was a combination of a slippery track and less grip.”
He further added that the team and the engineers have done a good job to repair the front wing of the car which enabled Jarno Trulli to take the car out and bag some mileage.
On the other hand, Mike Gascoyne has revealed that there is something more to the car than what meets the eyes. Mike said that the real pace of the car will be revealed in the race and in qualifiers.
He said, “For tomorrow there is a lot more to come from the car. I am confident we will move up to where we expect to be in qualifying tomorrow.”
He further added that both the drivers, Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli, faced mechanical problems in their cars but the overall progress was good.
Team owner, Tony Fernandes, also said that the practice sessions were not so satisfactory but the team will build on them to score some points in the upcoming grand prix on Sunday. Fernandes said that the same performance in 2010 would have been seen as
a great achievement but now as the team has grown up, the targets are set high which was pleasing for them to see.
The third and last practice session will be contested on Saturday before heading into the qualifiers of the Melbourne Grand Prix.
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