- Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Lotus
Middle stint costs Grosjean podium
Romain Grosjean said getting stuck behind Adrian Sutil cost him a chance of the podium in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Fourth place at Yas Marina marked the end of three consecutive podiums for Grosjean, who eventually finished four seconds behind second-placed Mark Webber. However, after the first round of pit stops Grosjean struggled to pass Sutil - who had yet to stop on medium tyres - and said that cost him a shot at the top three.
"I got a good start and made up two places in the first few corners, but after that I lost a lot of time behind the Force India," Grosjean said. "I could overtake him with the DRS, but he had much better top speed and could just drive straight back past at the next straight.
"That middle stint cost us the chance of a podium in the end, and on pace we could maybe even have pushed Mark [Webber] for second place, but that's how it goes sometimes. It's a shame we couldn't make it four podiums in a row, but to come away with fourth place after a difficult couple of days is a decent result."
Grosjean also said he felt Lotus took a conservative strategy to the race to secure solid points, ultimately finishing just 1.1 seconds behind Nico Rosberg.
"The first stint should have been longer and then the second one would have been easier, but I think it was a bit dangerous to try it and for the constructors' championship it was safer to take the points from P4. You never know what's going on at the end with the car in front of you; the Mercedes was starting to struggle with Nico Rosberg but just not quite enough."
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