Lotus F1 has ended its first day of running at the Circuit de Catalunya prematurely, the squad uncovering issues with its second E20 chassis. Having completed just seven laps this morning, Romain Grosjean quickly raised doubts to his engineers before irregularites were found and the decision to stop was made.
"We completed a few aero runs and then started timed runs, but I was very quickly aware that the car wasn't responding as it should," Grosjean explained after stepping out of his 2012 contender.
"It's not ideal to lose track time, but fortunately we will have the chassis which ran perfectly in Jerez so I should get some good track time tomorrow. It's far better that we have an issue like this now rather than in Melbourne.''
Trackside Operations Director Alan Permane confirmed that the team's initial chassis, used during the opening pre-season test at Jerez, is being shipped over this evening.
"This morning was our first shakedown of our second chassis," added Permane. "Once the car was on track it was soon evident that everything wasn't quite as it should be. As a precaution we are returning the chassis to Enstone for further investigation. Chassis E20-01, which we used in Jerez, is being sent over and we expect to be on-track with that chassis tomorrow."
If the Lotus delivery arrives on time and is fitted as planned, Grosjean will return tomorrow before handing over to team-mate Kimi Räikkönen for the final two days.
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