• Japanese Grand Prix - FP2

Grosjean confident car can improve

Romain Grosjean: "Hopefully we'll make a similar step forward tomorrow" © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Japanese Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Romain Grosjean

• Teams:
• Lotus F1

Romain Grosjean reckons there is more time to find from his Lotus over the Japanese Grand Prix weekend after setting the sixth fastest time in second practice.

Lotus appears to be closer to the pace this weekend after a disappointing performance in Singapore, but Grosjean said it is too early to tell whether the team will be able to rediscover its pre-summer break pace.

"Not a bad day overall," he said. "The car felt much better in the afternoon than it did this morning; we're still not quite where we want to be but the team has been working hard and hopefully we'll make a similar step forward tomorrow.

"Suzuka is not an easy track on the car; the demands on the tyres are really high but the car felt consistent with both compounds which is a big positive. It's hard to say if P6 is the kind of position we'll be in qualifying ; there are definitely still a few tenths we can find so let's see what happens tomorrow."

Technical director James Allison agreed there was more time to be found.

"Romain suffered from understeer in the morning and by the time we had put this right he had already used up the best performance from his tyres. In the afternoon, with a better set up, he showed that there's still a reasonable turn of speed in the E20. We look in OK shape on both the hard and soft rubber as well as on high fuel, and we feel there is more to come from the car tomorrow ahead of qualifying."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.