Eric Boullier could not hide his feelings at Sepang on Sunday evening, despite Kimi Räikkönen managing to fight back to fifth place in the Malaysian Grand Prix. It was a race of contrasting fortunes for Lotus, as Romain Grosjean again qualified strongly but ended his afternoon in a gravel trap just minutes in.
“Today’s result is a bit frustrating,” said the French Team Principal. “Whilst it’s good to have a car finish in the top five after starting from tenth in conditions which were very tricky, we can’t help thinking that we could have achieved more from this race.
“Obviously, it’s disappointing for Romain, as it’s another DNF for him in the early laps of the race. He had never driven in the rain with these Intermediate tyres, so we have to take that into account. He had a very good start off the line, but the contact with Michael (Schumacher) ruined his race.”
Placing the disenchantment aside, Boullier is confident that the outfit formerly known as Renault will soon be enjoying several positive results.
“At the restart, we recovered well from our position and, on the plus side, the car looked strong again. Kimi had a flawless race,” he continued. “He was very consistent in all conditions and his best lap shows what could have been without his grid penalty.
“I’m sure when we have a ‘standard’ weekend - without bad weather, penalties or interruption – we will do very well.”
After Sepang, Lotus sits fifth in the Constructors’ Championship behind Sauber.
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  F. Alonso | Ferrari | 2:44:51.812 |
| 2. | S. Perez | Sauber | +2.263 |
| 3. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | +14.591 |
| 4. | M. Webber | Red Bull | +17.688 |
| 5. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | +29.456 |
| 6. | B. Senna | Williams | +37.667 |
| 7. | P. di Resta | Force India | +44.412 |
| 8. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | +46.985 |
| 9. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | +47.892 |
| 10. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | +49.996 |
| Full results | |||
| Eric Boullier | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Eric Boullier photos | |||
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