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Grosjean had 'no worries' about Lotus E20 on testing return

Romain Grosjean: "You can trust the car and push it to the limit" © Sutton Images

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Romain Grosjean said he didn't think twice about attacking the Circuit de Catalunya on the Lotus E20's first day back in testing.

The team withdrew from last week's test at the same circuit due to a problem with the car's suspension, but Lotus' technical team is confident it has now solved the issue. Grosjean, who discovered the problem after seven laps last week, set the fastest time of the day on the E20's return and said the memories of last week didn't even cross his mind on Thursday.

"I think drivers are mad in a way, you don't think about it," he said. "When you jump in a car you never think that it could be dangerous. I knew the team had worked really hard, I knew the team was doing what we needed to and I knew the numbers said it was fine, so no worries."

Lotus had a few issues with its KERS in the morning session and completed 73 laps in total. With just three days of testing before the first race Grosjean admitted time was tight, but he is confident the car has a solid base to build on.

"We had some small issues during the day but nothing major. We have a programme that we are following, but for sure we lost a few days last week. Now we have to try to work twice as hard to get back those days and hopefully the car will be good straight from the beginning. We are still finding some good points on it, some good setup items that we can work on and I think at the moment, sure we have missed some running, but it's not as bad as we could have expected.

"You can trust the car and push it to the limit. If you push too much you know what is going to happen next and this is really good when you are driving a car. If you push hard it understeers in a fast corner and if you push a little bit harder it understeers a little bit more, but it's not snapping [into overtsteer] from nowhere."

He admitted that Red Bull and McLaren were leading the way at the moment, but he is confident Lotus will be in a competitive battle behind.

"There are a few teams that are ahead, let's say Red Bull and McLaren are really good at the moment," Grosjean said. "We have a good car, at Barcelona it is important for us to know that what was working in Jerez is still working here and I think we've got a positive answer today. That's an encouraging sign for test and the first race of the season.

"It's going to be tight. If you look at the cars everyone has pushed their own designs on from the previous year. If you look at the Force India for example it is more or less the same shape but just tighter, Red Bull as well. Our car is the same and I think the gap will be closer. It's quite depressing for the guy in the windtunnel because they can find a little bit more and a little bit more, but they won't find a big gain suddenly."

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