• Canadian Grand Prix

'Character building' weekend for Lotus

ESPN Staff
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Kimi Raikkonen dropped to third in the drivers' championship, 44 points behind Sebastian Vettel © Getty Images
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Lotus team principal Eric Boullier said it was a "character building" weekend for the team after scoring just two points in the Canadian Grand Prix.

Kimi Raikkonen's title hopes took another blow as he only picked up two points in ninth place, while Romain Grosjean failed to score after a late pit stop dropped him to 12th. Boullier said it was disappointing to not be able to show the car's true potential but was able to pick out a few positives from the race.

"Today was certainly character building," Boullier said. "On the plus side, Romain drove a measured and mature race through the field and should have finished in the points had we not had to make a second stop, which wasn't to our original plan. Kimi had a frustrating day, but still scored some points. We couldn't show the pace we wanted this weekend and will be all the more focused when we get to Silverstone as we are obviously very keen to get our championship challenge back on track."

Raikkonen said he was uncompetitive due to a brake issue which meant he lost time trying to slow the car for each corner.

"My race didn't start very well and then my brakes were fading with the pedal going soft; similar to the problem we had on Friday," he said. "It wasn't ideal but at least the brakes were good enough to slow me down for the corners. Unfortunately though it meant I lost a lot of time and wasn't able to attack, plus we lost a few seconds in the pit stop which obviously didn't help either. Most of my race was just following the cars in front and defending from those behind, so not the most enjoyable day nor the most enjoyable result. It's been a bad weekend, but at least we scored a few points."

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